Many of the stocks that I own and write Covered Calls upon also pay dividends.  Dividends occur on a regular basis and add significantly to my annual investment income.  Year to date I have received a total of $2,785.01 in dividends in my various accounts for 2012.  My year to date average monthly dividends received is currently $928.34.  The year-to-date dividends currently represent about 30.84% of my average monthly investment cash flow and about 2.49% return on my current basis value.

My YTD dividends are up by $140.42 on a monthly average from last year.  That represents a 17.82% increase to date year over year.  I attribute the increased dividends to a few companies raising their dividends and to my purchasing additional dividend paying stocks.  During February, I received notice of the following dividends paid in various accounts for a total of $1,006.79.

Please notice that PGF is an ETF and pays dividends monthly.  The annualized dividend yield for PGF is based upon the simple and false assumption that it will pay the same dividend each month for the next 12 months.  The actual annualized dividend yield may be more or less than illustrated here.

The DCIX shares are ones I received as a split off from Diana Shipping (DSX).  I had thought about just selling them but there are so few and the trading cost would chew up so much relative to what I would receive that I decided to keep them, at least for now, and collect the little dividends that they throw off.

I use my basis per share to determine the simple and annualized percentage return because I feel that it gives me a better representation of the value of the dividends as they relate to my portfolio.  My basis may be above or below the market price which causes my return to be lower or higher than published yields for a stock.  I calculate my basis per share as my acquisition price less any option premiums received on those shares.  I do not use dividends to reduce my basis.

On Monday, 1/23/12, I sold 9 BAC Apr12 $9.00 Covered Calls for a net deposit of $93.18 in an IRA account.  My basis for these BAC shares is now $15.87, excluding dividends received.  This transaction represents a simple return of about .82% and an annualized return of about 3.34% on my prior basis.

S&P currently has a 12-month target of $8 for BAC, with a 3 star (Hold) rating.  MarketEdge currently has a price opinion to $6.61 with a Long rating.  The 24 Yahoo Analysts have a mean 12-month estimate of 2.5 where 1.0 is a Strong Buy and 5.0 is a Strong Sell. 

I increased my strike price this time up from my previous $7.50 that just expired.  I decided to sell the $9 strike after watching BAC increase in price since mid December.  I would have liked to sell a higher strike but did not want to go too far out.  If BAC moves up to the $9 level I should be able to roll these Calls out and probably up before they expire.

BAC currently pays a paltry .01 quarterly dividend.  It has paid a .64 quarterly dividend as recently as September 2008.  I believe that BAC will eventually raise its dividend again.  I don’t know if it will be back to the .64 level but certainly it should be well above what it is now.  I continue to believe that BAC will be a strong winner for me one day, or maybe I should say someday in the future.

Many of the stocks that I own and write Covered Calls upon also pay dividends.  Dividends occur on a regular basis and add significantly to my annual investment income.  Year to date I have received a total of $9.454.95 in dividends in my various accounts for 2011.  My year to date average monthly dividends received is currently $787.91.  The year-to-date dividends currently represent about 28.59% of my average monthly investment cash flow and about 2.14% return on my current basis value.

My YTD dividends are up by $183.64 on a monthly average from last year.  That represents a 30.39% increase to date year over year.  I attribute the increased dividends to a few companies raising their dividends and to my purchasing additional dividend paying stocks.  During October, I received notice of the following dividends paid in various accounts for a total of $832.89.

Please notice that PGF is an ETF and pays dividends monthly.  The annualized dividend yield for PGF is based upon the simple and false assumption that it will pay the same dividend each month for the next 12 months.  The actual annualized dividend yield may be more or less than illustrated here.

The DCIX shares are ones I received as a split off from Diana Shipping (DSX).  I had thought about just selling them but there are so few and the trading cost would chew up so much relative to what I would receive that I decided to keep them, at least for now, and collect the little dividends that they throw off.

I use my basis per share to determine the simple and annualized percentage return because I feel that it gives me a better representation of the value of the dividends as they relate to my portfolio.  My basis may be above or below the market price which causes my return to be lower or higher than published yields for a stock.  I calculate my basis per share as my acquisition price less any option premiums received on those shares.  I do not use dividends to reduce my basis.