Recent Purchases - Albemarle (ALB) and Eastman Chemical (EMN)

It's been about 4 months since I last made a splash and invested several hundred dollars at a time, so I figured there were decent opportunities that presented themselves recently and I would look to change my recent inactivity/small purchases by initiating positions in both ALB and EMN.

I won't go into too much detail for the rationale into these purchases as I already have on Seeking Alpha.

The main reason for acquiring shares in ALB is due to my optimism toward the future of lithium and its applications in our world, along with the fact ALB is the largest lithium producing company in the world and is trading at an appealing valuation. For more of an in-depth analysis on ALB, feel free to read my recent SA article on ALB. My $70.25 cost basis on each of my three shares represents a decent 2.09% entry yield that will likely grow in the high single digits to low double digits for years to come. This purchase added $4.41 in annual forward dividends.

The rationale for the EMN investment is similar to ALB in that EMN is among the largest chemical companies in a world that is dependent upon chemicals across a variety of industries and EMN is trading at an attractive valuation. My $73.25 cost basis on each of my three shares represents a 3.39% entry yield with high single digit dividend growth likely in the years ahead. This purchase added $7.44 in annual forward dividends.

Conclusion:

These purchases added $11.85 to my forward annual dividends and represent an entry yield of 2.75% based on the $430.50 that I invested. They also brought my annual forward dividends to just under the $560 mark. This brings me one massive step closer to my goal of ending 2019 with annual forward dividends of $600+. In hindsight, I don't believe I set my annual forward dividend goal high enough and I believe a revision to $650 is justified here, given that there is still 7 months left in the year. This will likely be my last major purchase for several more months, so dividend reinvestment, dividend raises, and continued retirement contributions are expected to be the main drivers of my dividend growth until later this year.

Discussion:

What companies have you recently invested in? Are there any companies that have your attention currently? How much progress are you making toward your 2019 goals? Did you set them too low like I apparently have? As always, thanks for reading and I look forward to replying to your comments.