ASK THE READERS - Should I buy XOM, OHI, WMT?

We started this series back in November as a way to add some fun to our buying process. We plan to continue doing these Ask the Reader post once a month (except when funds are limited) and will be maintaining the stocks purchased in a separate portfolio just to see how they perform. 

The three stocks we have chosen are stocks that are currently at the top of our watch list and thus stocks we would be comfortable buying regardless of the outcome.  But we thought it would be fun to get our readers input and see if collectively, we can all beat the market with this interactive portfolio. :) 

Below is a chart below of our ASK THE READER purchases to date: 



For each ASK THE READER post, we will select 3-4 current stocks on our watch list that we feel are worth buying.  But to add some fun into our buying process, we have decided to put our faith in our fellow bloggers and readers once a month. 

Please spend a few minutes to vote for ONE stock from the companies listed below.  Tell us why you like the stock that you picked. 

Thanks in advance for your STOCK PICK!

STOCK #1 Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM)

• Sector: Energy - Oil & Gas
• Market Cap: 355.7 Billion
• Dividend Yield: 3.43% 
• Consecutive years of dividend increase: 32 Years
• Paying Dividends Since: 1882
• Payout Ratio: 69.5%
• P/E Ratio: 12.76

STOCK #2  Omega Healthcare Investors, Inc. (OHI)

• Sector: Financials - Real Estate
• Market Cap: 6.46 Billion
• Dividend Yield: 2.04% 
• Consecutive years of dividend increase: 5 Years
• Paying Dividends Since: 1992
• Payout Ratio: 24.2%
• P/E Ratio: 22.02



STOCK #3 Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (WMT)

• Sector: Services - Retail
• Market Cap: 233.7 Billion
• Dividend Yield: 2.65% 
• Consecutive years of dividend increase: 40 Years
• Paying Dividends Since: 1973
• Payout Ratio: 40.3%
• P/E Ratio: 14.58

**LET US KNOW WHICH STOCK YOU WOULD PICK AND WHY**

RECENT BUYS - (NYSE: WMT & VZ)

WE RECENTLY PURCHASED THE FOLLOWING



Wal-mart Stores, Inc (WMT)
Purchased 9 shares of WMT on 6/15/2015 at $72.00
Total money spent: $648.00
$17.64 added to annual dividends

Verizon Communications Inc (VZ)
Purchased 10 shares of VZ on 6/15/2015 at $47.00
Total money spent: $470.00
$22.00 added to annual dividends

Before today, we had 8 limit orders open for various stocks including (JNJ, BAX, OHI, OKS, TIS, HCP, WMT, and VZ).  This morning, 2 of the 8 orders were executed since the stock price reached our desired purchase price.  The first order was a purchased of WMT at $72.00. The second order was a purchase of VZ at $47.00.  We had actually bought shares in both WMT (click link for post) and VZ (click link for post) earlier this year so our purchase today was simply an addition to our current holdings. We now own 17 total shares in WMT and 35 total shares in VZ.  Both purchases not only added to our passive income stream, but also allowed us to average down our cost basis on two stocks that we plan to hang onto for the long haul. 

Since our purchases of Wal-mart Stores, Inc (WMT) and Verizon Communications Inc (VZ) today were shares in companies that we already owned, our family's Dividend Stocks Portfolio remains the same with a total of 39 different dividend paying stocks/ETFs in the portfolio.

Our estimated forward dividends, however, grew another $39.64, putting our yearly dividends at approximately $2912/year (excluding our Edwards Jones account) and $3,294/year (including our Edward Jones account). 

Our family's dividend stocks portfolio may be found

by clicking on the link below:
DIVIDEND STOCKS PORTFOLIO

We also maintain an extensive list of stock analysis

that can be access through the link below:
COLLECTION OF STOCK ANALYSES

We also just started a list of Recent Buys by other bloggers

that can be access through the link below: 

COLLECTION OF RECENT BUYS

HERE IS A QUICK FACT SHEET FOR THE STOCK JUST PURCHASED:

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc (WMT)

• P/E: 14.47
• Payout Ratio: 39.7%
• Dividend Yield: 2.71%
• Dividend Growth rate (5yr AVG): 11.14%
• 8 consecutive years of dividend increases
• Last Ex-dividend date: 5/6/2015
• Next Ex-dividend date: approx. 8/6/2015
• Have paid a dividend since: 1975 (40 years)
• Pays a dividend 4 times a year.
• Market Cap: 253 Billion
• 52-week high: $90.97
• 52-week low: $72.61
• Purchased Price: $72.00

Verizon Communications Inc (VZ)

• P/E: 19.74
• Payout Ratio: 57.1%
• Dividend Yield: 4.66%
• Dividend Growth rate (5yr AVG): 2.95% 
• 8 consecutive years of dividend increases
• Last dividend Ex date: 4/8/2015
• Next dividend Ex date: 7/8/2015
• Have paid a dividend since: 1984 (31 years)
• Pays a dividend 4 times a year.
• Market Cap: 231.6 Billion
• 52-week high: $53.66
• 52-week low: $45.09
• Purchased Price: $47.00

What are your thoughts about my recent purchase?

What are you buying?

RECENT BUY - (NYSE: WMT)

WE RECENTLY PURCHASED THE FOLLOWING


Wal-Mart Stores, Inc (WMT)
Purchased 8 shares of WMT today (4/22/2015) at $77.75
Total Spent: $622.00
$14.40 added to annual dividends

 

A little about Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.:

Wal-Mart is the industry leader in discount retail by a wide margin. In fact, it is the world’s largest company by revenue (according to the Fortune Global 500 list in 2014). To put things into perspective, Wal-Mart generates more sales than Costco (COST), Target (TGT), Amazon (AMZN), Kroger (KR), and Whole Foods (WF)...Combined!  Wal-Mart is also the biggest private employer in the world with more than two million employees. It's shear size and scale has thus allowed it to pressure suppliers into the best possible deals.  

 

Wal-Mart positioning itself to take advantage of growing e-commerce demand.  In fact, Wal-Mart has seen some nice growth in digital sales during the last few quarters and is therefore shifted its recent capital spending to continue its growth in digital/e-commerce sales.  It is doing so through investments in its website, mobile platform, as well as people.

 

Wal-Mart is also spending capital to leverage its success and expand its market share at the expense of local grocery store chains through its neighborhood market stores.  In fact, the company is on track to open between 180 and 200 neighborhood market stores in the US in its full fiscal 2015. 

In addition to its neighborhood market stores, Wal-Mart is also experimenting with even smaller express stores (1/10 the size of a Wal-Mart super center).

 

 

Today's Purchase:

We've been eyeing Wal-Mart for a little while now and certainly happy that we picked up a few shares of WMT earlier in the morning for $77.75 (the stock actually ended up closing .68 cents higher at $78.43).  With today's purchase of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (WMT), our family's dividend stocks portfolio now includes a total of 37 stocks/ETFs.

Our estimated forward dividends grew just a tad, adding another $15.68 to our yearly dividends which now stands at approximately $3,163/year.
 

Our family's dividend stocks portfolio may be found

by clicking on the link below:

DIVIDEND STOCKS PORTFOLIO

We also maintain an extensive list of stock analysis

that can be access through the link below:

COLLECTION OF STOCK ANALYSES

We also just started a list of Recent Buys by other bloggers

that can be access through the link below:

 

COLLECTION OF RECENT BUYS

HERE IS A QUICK FACT SHEET FOR THE STOCK I JUST PURCHASED:

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc (WMT)

P/E: 15.53
Payout Ratio: 38%
Dividend Yield: 2.499%
Dividend Growth rate (5yr AVG): 11.62%
41 consecutive years of dividend increases
Last Ex-dividend date: 2/6/2015

Next Ex-dividend date: approx. 5/6/2015
Have paid a dividend since: 1973 (42 years)
Pays a dividend 4 times a year.
Market Cap: 253 Billion
52-week high: $90.97
52-week low: $72.61
Purchased Price: $77.75

What are your thoughts about my recent purchase?

What are you buying?