The Retiree's Dividend Portfolio - John's April Update: The Impact Of Dividend Cuts

John's Traditional IRA generated a total income of $1,242.05 for April 2020 compared with a total income of $1,058.84 for April 2019.
John's Roth IRA generated a total income of $963.95 for April 2020 compared with a total income of $923.10 for April 2019.
A total of four companies paid an increased dividend or delivered a special dividend during the month of April.
A total of two companies cut or suspended/eliminated their dividend during the month of April.
John's income held up well for April but we expect to see more negative impact from additional dividend cuts during the month of May.

Dividend Cuts And Suspension/Elimination
There were only two companies that suspended dividend payments during the month of April. Apple Hospitality (APLE) is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that operates hotels in 87 markets across the United States. According to the most recent earnings call, occupancies began to drop significantly and management made the tough decision to make significant cuts to staffing levels and various services (food and beverage) which were helpful in limiting the impact to earnings for the quarter.
Cost cuts were made across the board including executive management and the Board of Directors all voluntarily reducing their compensation for 2020. Overall corporate expenses for 2020 are expected to be reduced by 25%. Although pay reductions tend to be largely symbolic I think it is extremely important for a company like APLE to take these kinds of actions, especially when they suspended the dividend (which is one of the primary reasons why an investor would hold shares of this particular stock).
Some investors' have a strict policy of selling shares of companies that cut or eliminate their dividend and while I do not follow that philosophy (I do take it into consideration but I do not follow it as a hard-and-fast rule) APLE is a stock that I am more than willing to make the exception for. Anyone who has... Read more