Tracking Dividend Income

Introduction

This is the third of a three part series that focuses on the Stock Rover features that help you quickly identify, research, and track dividend investment candidates. The three part series is structured as follows:

• Part 1 – Screening for Dividend Stocks and ETFs
• Part 2 – Researching the Results of a Dividend Screener
• Part 3 – Tracking Dividend Income

In this blog post, we will cover Tracking Dividend Income using features from the Stock Rover Dashboard and from Stock Rover’s Portfolio Tools.

If dividends are a major part of your portfolio strategy, then dividend tracking is a crucial component to measuring success. Manually tracking dividend income can be a tricky proposition, especially when there are many portfolio holdings. Tracking becomes even more challenging when holdings change, for example after a portfolio is rebalanced. Throw multiple portfolios into the equation and dividend tracking enters a whole new level of complexity.

Stock Rover makes it easy to track dividend income. As we’ll see, portfolio dividends can be tracked at varying levels of detail, and they can be tracked over virtually any time period. In addition, Stock Rover’s dividend tracking features include the ability to project future portfolio dividend income.

The Dashboard

The Stock Rover Dashboard is available to all Stock Rover subscription plans and consists of multiple sections that deliver a performance overview of our portfolio(s) as well as that of the overall market.

Future Projected Income

The Future Projected Income section of the Dashboard is the part most pertinent to dividend tracking. It is highlighted in the screenshot of of Dashboard below.

We can see that the Dashboard is displaying the expected monthly, quarterly, and yearly future income for our two selected portfolios – “Dogs of the Dow” and “My Dividend Growth”.

The income is computed based on the recent dividend payment history of the individual stocks, ETFs, and mutual funds in the portfolios.

The projection assumes no increase or decrease to the current dividend rate that a company, ETF, or fund pays.

We can access the full Future Income tool by clicking on Full Details in the blue bar.

Note: The full Future Income tool requires a Premium or Premium Plus subscription plan.

Stock Rover’s Portfolio Tools

Portfolio Tools consists of a group of tools that help us manage our portfolios. Below, we’ll focus on the two tools that provide dividend income tracking; which are Portfolio Analytics and Future Income.

Portfolio Analytics

The Portfolio Analytics tool analyzes the overall performance of our portfolio(s), as well as the performance of the individual holdings.

Portfolio Analytics returns a number of metrics, including those related to the change in value, dividend income, yield, appreciation, return on investment, internal rate of return, time-weighted return, unrealized gain, realized gain, and much more.

The return metrics automatically assume dividend reinvestment, so there is no need for us to edit the portfolio to account for dividends either by adding cash or purchasing shares.

Value Over Time

The Value Over Time tab of Portfolio Analytics shows us how our portfolios’ values have changed over time, factoring in both inflows (dividends being one of them), outflows, and the underlying change in the value of the investments themselves.

1. The Table shows the Income ($) column. This column displays the total cash dividends accrued in the time period of the report. In our example we selected a 2 year time period to analyze our two portfolios – “Dogs of the Dow” and “My Dividend Growth”.
2. The Price Change Chart shows the dividend-adjusted return for each portfolio, as well as the dividend-adjusted return of the combined portfolios.

Holdings Detail

The Holdings Detail tab of Portfolio Analytics shows the contribution of the different holdings of the portfolio(s) to the overall portfolio(s) return.

1. The Table shows the Income ($) column. This displays the total cash dividends accrued over 2 Years for each of the holdings across the “Dogs of the Dow” and “My Dividend Growth” portfolios.

   If we would like to group the holdings by a category, we can right-click on a column header and choose the grouping category. We can choose to see our cash dividends grouped by Industry, Sector, Portfolio, Tag, Color, or Currency.

2. The Holdings Detail Map displays a heat map of the portfolio tickers grouped by sector. The tiles are sized and colored based on the options for “Size” and “Color”. In the screenshot below, the Size option is End Value and the color option is Value Change %. Note that the heat map calculations automatically account for dividends.

Future Income

The Future Income Tool projects future dividend income on a monthly, quarterly, and yearly basis. The income is based on the individual stocks, ETFs, and mutual funds that comprise our portfolio(s).

Stock Rover provides a projection based on recent dividend payment history. The projection assumes no increases or decreases to the current dividend rate. The projections are just that – projections. If a portfolio is comprised of healthy companies that may be increasing their dividends in the future, then Stock Rover’s projections will be somewhat conservative. On the other hand, if a portfolio contains companies that are suddenly under financial stress and the future dividends could be potentially cut or even eliminated, then Stock Rover’s projections will be optimistic.

Summary Level

When we select the Summary Level tab in the Future Income tool, we see a display with monthly, quarterly, and yearly dividend income values.

Below we see the future dividend income values across our selected portfolios – “Dogs of the Dow” and “My Dividend Growth”.

The chart is showing us the dividend income at the monthly level. However, we can also select to display quarterly values.

When we mouse over the chart, the value for the selected bar is displayed, as shown below.

Portfolio Level

When we select the Portfolio Level tab, we see the monthly future dividend income, broken down by portfolio. We can also click on a column heading for sorting and grouping options.

The chart below is showing us the per portfolio income at a monthly level.

Holdings Level

When we select the Holdings Level tab, we get a detailed monthly future dividend income breakdown by individual holding. For each holding, we see the estimated payment date along with the income amount.

Summary

This is the final part of our three part series focusing on Stock Rover features that help you quickly identify, research, and track dividend investment candidates.

Part 1 covered Screening for Dividend Stocks and ETFs. Part 2 covered Researching the Results of a Dividend Screener. This part focused on Dividend Tracking.

Need help finding dividend income investment candidates?

Take advantage of the Stock Rover Investor’s Library, with some 22 ready-made dividend screeners. You can use these screeners as is or tailor them to meet your specific requirements.

How about comparing different dividend investment candidates?

Use the Table to perform a comparative analysis; the Chart to view total return including dividends as well as a multitude of other dividend-centric metrics; or access the Insight Panel to take a deep dive into a ticker and all things dividend.

Take advantage of the Stock Ratings facility to see how a company’s dividend performance rates against its peers or run a Research Report to get an 8-page comprehensive financial summary that includes extensive dividend information.

Do you need to track dividend income?

Access the Dashboard for a summary of future dividend income. Use Portfolio Analytics to track dividend income in your portfolio or run the Future Income tool to project future dividend income on a monthly, quarterly, or yearly basis.

I hope you found this series on Dividend Investing to be useful and informative.