Our International Dividend Portfolio dropped -1.17% in US$ and -0.75% in € in September. Year-to-date the performance is finally in the plus and is now 1.46% in US$ for the International Dividend Portfolio.
Last month’s performance dashboard shows a mixed month with seven positive and only eight negative stocks. The European dividend stocks Unilever and Wolters Kluwer gained the most. Wolters Kluwer went ex-dividend in early September and paid €0.47 and has been added to this portfolio in early July. As announced, SAP is a new position in the International Dividend Portfolio since this month.
Performance
Since its inception in 2009, the portfolio has returned 298% in US$ and 374% in €, excluding reinvesting dividends. In the table below additional performance data on our 3 dividend portfolios and main indices.
Dividend Events
In September, only a few stocks in this portfolio went ex-dividend. Wolters Kluwer went ex-dividend early September and paid €0.47. ADP paid $0.91 per share quarterly dividend, Realty Income (O) paid a monthly dividend of $0.234.
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) announced a quarterly dividend of $0.56 per share, reflecting a $0.05 or 10% increase over the previous quarter’s dividend.
Microsoft is a dividend achiever which has managed to increase annual dividends for 17 consecutive years. The forward annual dividend is $2.24, and the forward dividend yield just above 1%. The 10% dividend growth rate over 5 years is in line with the last dividend increase. The dividend is payable Dec. 10, 2020, to shareholders of record on Nov. 19, 2020. The ex-dividend date will be Nov. 18, 2020.
Earnings per share have increased from $2.69 per share in 2011 to $5.76/share in 2020. Microsoft is expected to generate $6.46 per share in 2021 and $7.34 per share in 2022.
Getting started
We created the International Dividend Portfolio, so customers can follow a selection of international dividend stocks. Some investors could mirror the portfolio holding for holding, but others use the list to generate investment ideas and make sense of trends and risk/returns in their own portfolios.
If you decide to mirror the portfolio, our recommendation would be to invest equally across all holdings. This provides diversification between stocks, sectors, and currencies. Preferable the value of one individual stock is always below 5%-8%. Some holdings may appear undervalued and some overvalued, so we provide some guidelines/rules when to buy or not to buy. Please take into account that there is currency risk.
More details and the dividend stocks in portfolio are available to members.