August 2023 Dividend Stock Purchases

As I'm writing this blog post on Friday, August 25, the weather here in Central Wisconsin isn't too bad: It is sunny today and the high temperature is expected to be 88 degrees Fahrenheit. This is much better than just a couple of days ago, when the temperature topped 100 degrees!

With that aside, I anticipate that my capital deployment for August 2023 is complete. Thus, now is a good time to discuss my stock purchases for the month. Let's dive in.

The first stock purchase that I completed for the month of August was 0.5 shares of Alphabet (GOOGL) at an average price per share of $128.52. This brought my position in the advertising giant to 20 shares, which I am happy with for now as I shift my focus toward building a position in Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG).

My next stock purchase that I executed during the month was 0.5 shares of Amazon (AMZN) at an average cost of $128.30 per share. Just as is the case with GOOGL, my AMZN position is now in a decent spot at 20 shares. That's why I plan on pausing incremental purchases in the e-commerce and cloud juggernaut for the time being.

The first dividend stock purchase that I made for the month of August was 30 shares of Brookfield Asset Management (BAM) at an average price per share of $34.89. As a leader within the alternative asset management space, BAM is diversified across so many of the mega-trends that will define the future of the global economy. These include renewable energy, data centers, and artificial intelligence. The transaction added $38.40 to my net annual forward dividends, which equates to a 3.67% net dividend yield.

My next dividend stock purchase that I completed during the month was 15 shares of VICI Properties (VICI) at an average cost of $30.02 per share. Interested readers can check out my buying rationale for the stock in my August 2023 Dividend Stock Watch List blog post. This buy boosted my net annual forward dividends by $23.40, which works out to a 5.2% dividend yield.

The third dividend stock purchase that I executed for the month of August was three shares of AbbVie (ABBV) at an average price per share of $153.05. Again, curious readers can visit my August 2023 Dividend Stock Watch List blog post for the investment thesis. The transaction lifted my net annual forward dividends by $17.76, which is equivalent to a 3.87% net dividend yield.

My next dividend stock purchase that I made during the month was two shares of Lowe's (LOW) at an average cost of $224.37 a share. Once again, readers can peruse my August 2023 Dividend Stock Watch List blog post for a better understanding of why I like LOW. This decision increased my net annual forward dividends by $8.80, which equates to a 1.96% dividend yield.

The fifth dividend stock purchase that I completed for the month of August was two shares of Hershey (HSY) at an average price per share of $215.05. Readers can find my investment thesis in a Motley Fool article on the stock published earlier this month. The transaction bumped up my net annual forward dividends by $9.536, which works out to a 2.22% net dividend yield.

My next dividend stock purchase that I executed during the month was eight shares of Iron Mountain (IRM) at an average cost of $60.79 a share. Intrigued readers can scan my recent Motley Fool article on the stock (and Energy Transfer and FedEx) for my investment thesis. This buy helped my net annual forward dividends to climb by $21.20, which is equivalent to a 4.36% dividend yield.

The seventh and final dividend stock purchase that I made for the month of August was 17 shares of Leggett & Platt (LEG) at an average price per share of $27.73. My buying rationale is as simple as the fact that LEG is a beaten-down Dividend King with a reasonably safe dividend considering the current economic environment that it is facing. The decision boosted my net annual forward dividends by $31.28, which equates to a 6.64% net dividend yield.

Concluding Thoughts:

During the month of August, I put $3,921.12 of capital to work. Against the $150.376 in net annual forward dividends that were added to my portfolio, this works out to a 3.84% weighted average dividend yield.

Dividend announcements in August (e.g., Medical Properties Trust's dividend cut) collectively reduced my net annual forward dividends by $25.43. As a result, my net annual forward dividends grew from almost $4,085 at the start of the month to nearly $4,210 heading into September.

Discussion:

How did you fare in regard to capital deployment in August 2023?

Did you open any new whole-share positions as I did with BAM?

Thanks for reading and please feel free to comment below!