The Nest Egg Portfolio: Running The Numbers On Total's 5.5% Dividend Yield

Introduction
In the previous edition of the Nest Egg Portfolio, I explained why I was selling Hibernia REIT (OTCPK: HIBRF). The Irish REIT has done everything right, but when I see offices being valued based on a net initial rental yield of 3.6%, I prefer to redeploy the capital elsewhere. The Dublin office market appears to remain pretty tight, but I’m still not sure it warrants such a premium valuation. I wouldn’t mind being proven wrong, but I chose the safer option, sold the Hibernia REIT stock from the Nest Egg Portfolio and promised to deploy the cash elsewhere.
In this week’s edition, I will update the portfolio with the in excess of 1,800 EUR in incoming net dividends and I'm adding to three existing positions.
Portfolio update
I remain confident in Total – and will be adding to the position
It has been a while since I had a look at Total (TOT), and considering the weight of the French energy giant had dropped to less than 5% of the Nest Egg Portfolio, I was considering increasing the exposure as I still feel Total and Shell are "the way to go" in the European energy landscape as both are well diversified.
In its Q1 overview, Total touted a 9% production increase to almost 3 million barrels of oil-equivalent per day. Being a large producer is one thing, but producing these barrels at a low cost could sometimes be a whole different issue. Not for Total, which re-confirmed its cash breakeven point is less than $25 per barrel of oil. And... Read more