….Walgreens (WBA) reduced quarterly dividend from $0.48 to $0.25 and the share price dropped by 11.5% on Jan 3rd. It did recover in the following days. My plan is to streamline my portfolio and Invest regularly and right in 2024 but alas before I got round to it this holding got whipped.
WBA was a dividend aristocrat that was on track to become a dividend king after 47 consecutive years of dividend increases. All that came to a screeching halt when the dividend reduction was announced. WBA is the 2nd dividend aristocrat I have in my portfolio that’s announcing a significant dividend reduction. The 1st one was VFC. A Dividend Aristocrat is a company that has consistently increased its dividends for at least 25 consecutive years. These companies are often viewed as stable and reliable for income-seeking investors like me until they stop delivering on income generation and switch to value erosion.
Do I still believe WBA is a good buy? Yes I do. Does it meet the dividend income part of my strategy? It no longer does. What will I be doing? Offloading ASAP and reinvesting into ETF. The ETFs I have also invest in WBA so I will remain invested but with less risk to my portfolio.