Long-Term Does Not Mean Forever
I am a long-term investor with 95% of our investments. There are always short-term opportunities. But the best way to grow an investment portfolio with maximum certainty of success and minimal effort, is to buy quality investments and hold them for at least a couple of years. When some goals are reached, the reason for some long-term holdings is diminished. In our case, the reasons for holding a larger percentage of investments in the utility sector no longer fits our needs. Selling the positions creates opportunities for other long-term investments or short-term opportunities.
Said Goodbye to DUK ES NEE and XEL
The positions in four utilities were liquidated on Friday. This creates a significant amount of cash, as each of these positions had grown significantly over the past five years. I did not, however, completely abandon utilities. At this point I still have some shares of LNT, SO and OGE. The best of these three is LNT, in my opinion.
Some Cash Already Spent
One of the things I already did with some of the cash was to purchase 800 shares of FNF for my account and 100 shares of FNF for Cindie. FNF is Fidelity National Financial, Inc. This company is a financial sector company with a focus on Property and Casualty Insurance. A more complete description of the company follows. As you might guess, this is a dividend growth opportunity. The five-year dividend growth rate is 18.39% and the payout ratio is a low 26.24. FNF has 15 years of consecutive dividend payments and six years of increasing dividends. The PE (FWD) is 8.15. The current yield is 3.22%. Most of these numbers are better than those for the utilities I sold.
Fidelity National Financial, Inc.
Fidelity National Financial, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides various insurance products in the United States. The company operates through Title, F&G, and Corporate and Other segments. It offers title insurance, escrow, and other title related services, including trust activities, trustee sales guarantees, recordings and reconveyances, and home warranty insurance. The company also provides technology and transaction services to the real estate and mortgage industries; and mortgage transaction services, including title-related services and facilitation of production and management of mortgage loans. In addition, it offers annuity and life insurance products, such as deferred annuities that include fixed indexed, fixed rate, and immediate annuities, as well as indexed universal life insurance products. Further, the company engages in the real estate brokerage business. Fidelity National Financial, Inc. was founded in 1847 and is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida.
Other Opportunities: DRI is one
Just like last week, I looked at Barron’s to see what might be attractive in the Dividend Payment Boosts table. The one I will likely buy is DRI. DRI is Darden Restaurants. With the reopening of the economy, I think the full-service restaurants in their holdings will prosper. Their 1,800 full-service restaurants in the United States and Canada as of May 31, 2020, included 868 under the Olive Garden, 522 under the LongHorn Steakhouse, 165 under the Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen, 81 under the Yard House, 60 under The Capital Grille, 44 under the Seasons 52, 41 under the Bahama Breeze, and 23 under the Eddie V’s Prime Seafood brands.
Link to Darden: LINK DRI
Know Your Flocks & Herds 