According to the current value snapshot as of 11:40 p.m. Eastern on 30-JUN-2022, the former iPIG portfolio is worth $101,753.50. That number may change a bit when the broker publishes the monthly statement for the account. According to the account’s March closing statement, it was worth $117,938.52. That’s a loss for the quarter of about 13.7%.
For comparison, the S&P 500 index tracker SPY finished June 30, 2022 at a closing price of $377.25. Per Yahoo Finance’s current Adjusted closing price, the SPY ETF had an Adjusted closing price of $449.70 for March 31, 2022. That gives that index tracker (with dividends reinvested) an estimated loss for the quarter of around 16.1%.
As a result, the former iPIG portfolio won something of a pyrrhic victory on a total return basis, outperforming the index by around 2.4 percentage points.
More importantly, the former iPIG portfolio appears to have again met its primary design criteria of dividend-like payments increasing more than inflation. Per my Quicken records, the account received $742.83 in dividend-like income in the April - June 2022 quarter, vs. $650.43 in the April - June 2021 quarter. That’s about a 14.2% increase in dividend-like income. That compares favorably to the 8.6% year over year inflation rate published in the most recent Bureau of Labor Statistics inflation publication.
During the quarter, I made one set of trades. I sold the shares of Teva Pharmaceuticals (TEVA) and Disney (DIS) that the account held and used the cash from those sales, plus some accumulated dividend payments, to buy shares of Genuine Parts (GPC). The sales were made because both Teva and Disney ceased paying dividends (Disney’s last dividend was for the end of 2019, and Teva’s was for the end of 2017), and neither have shown active signs of re-starting their dividend payments. That is inconsistent with the dividend growth objective of the portfolio. Both companies appear to have returned to sufficient operating health to where they could have reinstated their dividends if they wanted to yet have not done so. As a result, it was clearly time to part ways and move on.
I hesitate to point to near term price movements, but I sold Teva at $8.265 per share and Disney at $103.68 per share. I bought Genuine Parts at $131.55 per share. As of June 30, Disney closed at $94.40, Teva closed at $7.52, and Genuine Parts closed at $133.00 per share. In addition, Genuine Parts declared and went ex-dividend on a $0.895 per share payment that I expect to receive on 01-JUL-2022. So at least in the short term, that looks like an early potential success. It also helps boost the former iPIG portfolio’s dividend income for the JAS 2022 quarter, as the money that went to buy those shares came from sources that have not been actively paying dividends recently. Given the still high inflation rate, I’ll take all the help I can get on that front.
Net - it wasn’t fun, and the losses are still real, but I am thrilled that the former iPIG portfolio managed to meet its core design criteria of a growing income stream capable of keeping pace or exceeding inflation.
Regards,
-Chuck
Home Fool
Disclosure: I own shares of Genuine Parts