Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Portfolio Update: Two Transactions

April is half over and I've neglected to mention my activity so far. Shame on me. Now I'm going to rectify that.

On April 4th, I STC my entire position in VZ. I originally had two telephone communication companies in my portfolio. But after much consideration, I no longer saw the need to have two telep-co stocks in my portfolio. I chose to keep T and let go of VZ since T had a slightly better yield.

On April 9th, I BTO more of ETP. My reasons for buying more of this one over any other were that it was approaching it's ex-dividend date  for the second phase payouts, and the yield was the highest of all the  second phase stocks in my portfolio.

Those are my reasons for my actions so far this month. If you would like to question it, please do. But in keeping with my moto, which could be the reason I don't get any activity, that is my opinion, you can take it or leave it.
Disclaimer: See bottom of page. http://investorsopinion.blogspot.com

BTO - bought-to-open/buy-to-open
ETP - Energy Transfer Partners, LP
STC - sold-to-close/sell-to-close
T - AT&T
VZ - Verizon Communications

Sunday, March 31, 2013

Portfolio Update: Nothing New

Today I post on the final day of March. Unfortunately there is nothing to report in regards to my portfolio. March was a good month for the stock market, in the US anyway.

The market was so good that all of my limit orders expired because my price was too low for anyone else to accept. I am not discouraged though. I will continue to hold what I have and put in orders at prices I deem acceptable to me. That is my opinion, you can take it or leave it.
Disclaimer: See bottom of page. http://investorsopinion.blogspot.com

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Portfolio Update: Position Increased

This post is going to be one of my shorter ones. With the market sell off the day before, I added to my most recently acquired position, BGS. The part I didn't expect was how much BGS would pull back. If I had, I would have put in the order with a lower limit price. I will continue taking advantage of any further sell offs as often as possible. That is my opinion, you can take it or leave it.
Disclaimer: See bottom of page. http://investorsopinion.blogspot.com
BGS - B&G Foods, Inc.

Saturday, February 16, 2013

Portfolio Update: First Trade of the Year

The date of this post is the 16th of February, and it has been a while since my last post. About a month and a half. The reason being that I haven't had an order execute this year until yesterday.
Yesterday's order was for BGS. A company with a portfolio of grocery items. I chose this one to add to my portfolio because it has a dividend yield of 3.8% and pays out on the first phase of the quarter. This is particularly good because I only had one other stock that paid out on the first phase of every quarter, AGNC. Other than that, I also collect the monthly distribution from the TLT.
Recently, BGS had a quarter that was below expectations, but I am confident that it is not too serious of an issue. I am actually looking forward to a little more of a short term decline in order to increase my position at lower prices. This lower price will also increase the yield amount for this stock. That is my opinion, you can take it or leave it.
Disclaimer: See bottom of page. http://investorsopinion.blogspot.com
AGNC - American Capital Agency Corp
BGS - B&G Foods, Inc.
TLT - iShares Trust Barclay's 20+ Year

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Portfolio Update: Catching up.

So here is the update. In my last post I wrote about rolling my call option on SAND. Since then I have allowed the option to expire worthless. My reasoning being that I lost my faith in it and I want to increase the payouts of my dividend schedule plan further. Because of that I used all further funds in the account to buy more shares in my current positions. But I also sold my position in a low yield stock that I held.

On the 23rd of November, I sold my shares of YUM because I believe the yield is too small for the dividend schedule plan I have for my portfolio. For my plan to work I need bigger payouts. These payouts and the additional funds from the sale of YUM stock will help to accelerate the purchase of more shares of the same stocks I currently hold and a few others I want to add to my portfolio.

On the 27th of November, I bought shares of JNJ. This purchase increased my dividend payout for the third phase of every quarter, which is currently the weaker of the three phases. It also increased my current position of JNJ, a stock I already own.

On the 21st of December, the SAND $15.00 Call option expired worthless. This was a disappointment. I believe the failure is that I bought into it being a cheaper play on gold while gold has been on a three month down trend that has yet to reverse. The hustle over gold might be over since the Mayan Apocalypse didn't happen and there might have been a lot of gold investors who believed in that foolishness.

On the 28th of December, I bought shares of PG. This purchase increased my dividend payout for the second phase of every quarter, the second weakest of the three phases. It also increased my current position of PG, a stock I already own.

The three phases of every quarter are much closer together in strength, now, but maintain their sequential order of strength. My available funds have almost all been depleted as I wait for a scheduled order to be triggered. I will be continuing to fund the account with cash from my day job and monitoring the market for additional investments to add to my portfolio.

That is my opinion, you can take it or leave it. Disclaimer: See bottom of page. http://investorsopinion.blogspot.com


JNJ - Johnson & Johnson
PG - Procter & Gamble Co.
SAND - Sandstorm Gold Ltd.
YUM - Yum! Brands Inc.

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Portfolio Update: Option Rolled

In my effort to keep this blog up to date with my trade activity, I have something I need to report. This week, on the 13th of November, I rolled over my SAND option position. The action of rolling simply means that I swapped one position for another with a later expiration, sometimes also changing the strike price and/or direction.

Prior to this change, I held the SAND Nov 17 2012 15.00 Call. I rolled it over into the SAND Dec 22 2012 15.00 Call. This was at a cost to me of an additional $46.32 after all fees and commissions were applied. So I will be looking for a brake-even point of $1.52 per contact share or better.

That is my opinion, you can take it or leave it. Disclaimer: See bottom of page. http://investorsopinion.blogspot.com

SAND - Sandstorm Gold Ltd.

Friday, November 9, 2012

Portfolio Update: Long Over Due

It has, once again, been too long since my last post. In the time that has passed there have been seven changes to my portfolio. I have made 5 purchases, 1 sale, and had an option position expire on me. The 4 of the 5 purchases and the one sale were strategic moves to my portfolio. The remaining 1 purchase and option expiration are my speculation plays.

To start I BTO additional shares in my ETP position. This purchase added to my dividend payout for the second phase of each quarter. This was done on the 3rd of October.

On the 8th of October, I BTO a SAND Nov 17 2012 $15 Call option position. This was done as my speculation play. Unfortunately, I have to admit that the decision to get in was poorly timed and selected. I should have waited for the pull back and then choose an expiration further out. As of this post, it is in the red but seems to be showing signs of improvement. I will be holding it until my profitable sale trigger is hit or it's expiration, which is a week away from this post.

On the 19th of October, my speculation play for FB Oct 20 2012 $15 Put options locked and expired. This was again an unfortunate speculation gone wrong. In hinds sight I should have taken my profits when I had them or probably should have chosen to purchase one option closer to the money instead of three so far out of the money. I still think FB is over-priced, but it seems that they are finally accepting that they have to make revenue in order to attract investors and are making changes that will actually create revenue even at the expense of loosing some of there ~1 billion users.

On the 31st of October, I STC my entire position of DE. I made this decision because DE did not fit the minimum yield requirement of my strategy of holding high dividend yielding stocks. Fortunately, I was able to get out with a very small profit.

On the 2nd of November, I BTO additional shares in two of my existing positions, T and VZ. These purchases added to my dividend payout for the second phase of each quarter. As a result I am almost 70% of my phase one dividend payouts, which are currently the largest.

Finally on the 7th of November, I BTO additional shares in my MCD position. This purchase added to my dividend payout for the third phase of each quarter. As a result I am almost 50% of my phase one dividend payouts.

Despite the fact that falling over the "Fiscal Cliff" will result in an increase of the dividend tax rate, I am not going to change my core strategy of building a portfolio of dividend paying stocks. My portfolio is not currently generating enough income to alter my effective tax rate significantly. I will, however, use the fear in the market to build up my positions.

That is my opinion, you can take it or leave it. Disclaimer: See bottom of page. http://investorsopinion.blogspot.com

BTO - buy-to-open/bought-to-open
DE - Deere & Co.
ETP - Energy Transfer Partners LP
FB - Facebook CL A
MCD - McDonalds Corp
SAND - Sandstorm Gold LTD
STC - sell-to-close/sold-to-close
T - AT&T, Inc
VZ - Verizon Communications