It's another quarter in a year when the bulk of my Lifeco holdings have ex-dividend dates and I don't dwell about further buying, just how much. Unlike the Telecom sector where the Canadian Feds recently ruffled the feathers of some big name companies like Bell, allowing Telus to expand into Ontario and Quebec and fretting about forced capital spending while debt runs higher with more selling of assets. Kind of like dragging a ball and chain slowing progress while dealing with regulations and government overisght.
Meanwhile, onwards with my trio of Lifeco stocks.
With good numbers posted in the 2nd quarter results for Manulife Financial, I'll be further buying MFC.TO today with a 1 year share price increase of 20%. The dividend yield is a current 4.19%,
It's a good opportunity to buy the dip with Sun Life Financial, SLF.TO with an ex-dividend date of August 27, 2025. Sun Life continues to expand in Asia and therefore boosting it's business. The only downer in the 2nd quarter report was in their US dental arm. Less Medicaid approvals for dental work is the underlying issue which has been in the news about the changing US medical approval policy down south. A period of adjustment for the people needing that vital health coverage in the US.
I look at Sun Life as another foundation stock in my portfolio like Forts. I expect it to regain the approximate $5+ CAD per share it recently lost due to the short term investor sentiment over the recent quarterly report.
Last but not least is Great-West Lifeco, majority owned by Power Corporation, POW.TO, reported record base earnings for the 2nd quarter. With a current 4.49% yield, I won't hesitate in buying more shares in this company with an ex-dividend date of August 29th.
A quote by the late Charlie Munger I seen come up in many an article I agree with. "The big money is not in the buying and selling, but in the waiting."
Case in point, Globe and Mail's John Heinzl and his model portfolio, made up of stocks he owns personally except the iShares ETF XIU. The Yield Hog Dividend Growth Portfolio with an initial invest of 100 grand in 2017 has doubled the portfolio's income and continues to grow. Recent additional purchases from cash are two stocks I own, TD.TO and MFC.TO plus Restaurant Brands International (think Tim Hortons and Burger King among others) QSR.TO which I don't own but looking it over although yield is lower than I normally get into.
Thanks to a 6-per-cent dividend hike from Capital Power Corp. (CPX) on July 30, the portfolio’s annual income has now officially doubled since inception.
When I launched the portfolio with $100,000 of virtual money on Oct. 1, 2017, it was throwing off $4,094 of income annually based on dividend rates at the time. Owing to scores of dividend increases and regular re-investments of cash over the years, it’s now generating $8,199 of income – an increase of 100 per cent.
Early in September, when I'm looking forward to the hopefully cooling temps and less humidity living here near the Atlantic Ocean, Suncor, SU.TO comes to mind and big oil in Canada.
In the telecom sector I mentioned at the beginning of this article, I won't be buying more shares in Telus, T.TO. in September. Selling cell towers, laying off people, looking for partners for funding future infrastructure projects is a sign they are over the top in debt although the CEO says they have a plan to make it manageable. I'll be watching and when I get into too much pondering about a stock ... I debate about selling it but hold off for now.
It's wise not to set and forget a portfolio plan but watch for issues/red flags. Better to sell and shuffle the funds into another prospect or current holding when the same stock keeps popping up as worrisome. The plan needs some tweaking from time to time.
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