Dividend Stock Purchases June 2015

Here are some of my recent dividend stock purchases.  Every time the stock market takes a dive, it’s time to grab your shopping list of stocks and start buying up the deals.  Buying quality dividend paying stocks is a big part of my plan for achieving financial freedom.  Within the next 10 years I hope to receive somewhere around $25-$30k in annual passive dividend income.  Already I’m on track to achieve over $7,500 this year.  While that’s a great start, I’m still quite far from achieving my long term dividend income goal.  That means that I have to keep saving my money and keep buying more shares in solid companies that I plan to hold forever.

The TSX had a rough start this month and I recently initiated two new positions in addition to my regular monthly buys through my DRiPs in Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS), Bank of Montreal (BMO), Suncor (SU), Fortis (FTS) and Telus (T).

I bought 193 shares of Canadian Utilities Limited (CU) at $36.45/share for a total investment of $7,044.84 (including a $9.99 commission).  CU pays an annual dividend of $1.18 so this purchase will add $227.74 to my total annual dividend income.  I purchased these shares in my wife’s TFSA so that dividend income is also tax free!

CU is a Canadian dividend aristocrat that has increased its dividend for over 40 years.  This is one of those stocks that you just buy and put away and collect a steadily growing stream of income throughout your lifetime.  The stock yields a respectable 3.36% but what I like is that this will keep growing for many years to come.

I also bought 99 shares of Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan (POT) at $38.46 / share for a total investment of $3,817.53 (including a $9.99 commission).  I made this purchase in my RRSP. POT pays an annual dividend of $US 1.52 so this purchase will add approx. $CAD 187.11 to my total annual dividend income.  POT pays its quarterly dividend in Feb, May, Aug and Nov which I like because these are my weakest months for dividend income.  So I’ll get an extra $46.75 during those months which will boost the income to over $300!

POT is a global heavyweight in the fertilizer business.  It is the largest producer in the world.  The past few years haven’t been great for POT.  Declining commodity prices, the breakup of the Russian cartel etc. have weighed heavily on the stock.  But one thing is for sure – the world will need lots of fertilizer to grow the food that we eat to support a booming global population that is currently over 7 billion and could reach as much as 9 or 10 billion by 2050.  Droughts, climate change and urban/suburban expansion are causing a significant decline in the amount and quality of available farmland.  In order to get the most out of the available land and increase their crop yields, farmers will continue to use fertilizer.

What about you? What’s on your buy list?

Photo by Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net