Summary 2014

Happy New Year!

New year and new tricks. So without further introduction here is my performance report for 2014.

Dividends:

December dividend total was $92,15 and my 4th (Q4) quarter total is: $294,88 almost 100 bucks a month! so nice!

My full year dividends of 2014: $1,252.44  also completing my goal to reach $1200 dividend income for year 2014. One of my goals were to own 15 or more different stocks. This one I missed by one since my portfolio now contains 14 different companies. It is not so important as reaching my dividend income goal. Also my weight loss goal was close.  But I was able to lose few kg.

Here is complete list of my dividend income:





Also one of my goals were to save and average of 1000€ a moth and use that to purchase more stocks. On 2014 my total deposits were €12643 an average of €1053,58 month. Rely nice that I was able to reach this one. This year I hope to get few Euros more.

Trades:

I did make some buys and sells in 2014 and I did actually pretty good. Here are my trades:
List does not include trading fees. It's around $200 +/-







I did make some mistakes there, but I hope that I can learn from those.

So there was my year! How about yours? any good? 

thanks for reading.

Company Review: Munich Re (MUV2)

 On my last post i did an review of a company called Allianz SE (ALV) to add some comparison i decided to do another review of an yet another insurance company.


Muenchener Rueckversicherungs Gesellschaft AG in Muenchen is a Germany-based holding company engaged in reinsurance and insurance business fields. The Company diversifies its operations into reinsurance, primary insurance, Munich Health and Asset management. The Reinsurance business comprises five divisions: Life; Europe and Latin America; Germany, Asia Pacific and Africa; Special and Financial Risks, and Global Clients and North America. The business covers a range of products from traditional reinsurance products to solutions for risk assumption. The Company's primary insurance activities are combined into the ERGO Insurance Group (ERGO) and offers direct insurance, life, property-casualty, health, legal expenses and travel insurance products. It covers the Company's international health reinsurance business and health primary insurance outside Germany and engages the risk management services. The Asset management business handles the investment activities of Munich Re and ERGO.

Munich RE is a reinsurance company, this means that other insurance companies moves some parts of the responsibilities of an insurance to Munich RE. In other terms Munich RE sells coverage to insurers such as Allianz SE or Axa SA to help them shoulder claims. 

Munich RE (MUV2) is currently trading at €153.30 with an P/E 7.73 | EPS 19.84 | Market Cap 26.51B | Div/Yield €7.25/4.73%

Dividend And Dividend Policy

Dividend policy is designed to give shareholders an appropriate share in the company’s success. The minimum amount set aside for the dividend is 25% of the consolidated result. The actual basis, however, is the current dividend level of €7.25 per share, which we will strive not to undercut in future dividend payments, depending on the actual results and the capital position. There have not been any cuts in dividend since 1970.

Dividend has been on a increasing trend

In 11 year period dividend has increased from €1.25 to €7.25  this represent an increase of 480% and a average increase of 43.66% annually. But if you make same calculation on a 5 year period the increase is only 26.08%  (€5.75 to €7.25) an average yearly increase of 5.21%.

On other hand the company also buys back shares. In 11 year period the total share amount has decreased from 229,580,233 to 179,341,212 that's around 21% less shares out there than 11 years ago. 

The dividend payout ratio (graph below).

Shareholders

One of the cool facts about this company and a one thing that makes it just a little bit more interesting is that, one of the biggest shareholder in this company is Mr. Warren E. Buffet.

¹ 11.6% of the share capital are attributable to Warren E. Buffett and are held by several companies of his group (Berkshire Hathaway Inc., OBH Inc., National Indemnity Co.). According to the notification dated 15.10.2010 the investment serves the purpose of making trading profits and not of implementing strategic objectives.

Full Disclosure:

The stock itself have not moved at all during this year, this makes me wonder what's going on. So i did my research and it seems that there is some pressure in the industry right know and it looks like there is not going to be any relief anytime soon. As i was scouting around the world wide web i found this and it quite frankly tells me not to buy this one yet, even the head line says it: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-03/worst-market-in-memory-to-weigh-on-reinsurance-rates.html But on other hand, Mr Warren Buffet seems to hold on to it. Could this stock be one of those "buy when others don't want to", it could. So the stock haven't moved but the good dividend yield with a good low payout ratio and the words on the company's website under Outlook 2014 that says "Uplifting annual guidance after strong half-year performance" plus share buy backs, it is a company that deserves to end up on my watchlist, and i may buy it before the dividend release if the price is right.

thanks for reading!

What do you think of this review? Any help? Have you been watching insurance companies lately?

sources: http://www.munichre.com/en/homepage/index.html  | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-03/worst-market-in-memory-to-weigh-on-reinsurance-rates.html

Company Review: Allianz

I'm always on the lookout for new companies, where I can put my little capital to produce income for long or short term. Stocks or companies that get to my portfolio will go through my watchlist. My list contains several companies that i may buy when the time and the price is right.

Allianz  (ALV)

Allianz SE, headquartered in Munich in Germany, is among the top 15 financial groups in the world. It was founded in 1889. Allianz was involved in deal with CommerzBank in 2008-09 and currently holds a stake of about 14% in the bank. With approximately 148,000 employees worldwide, the Allianz Group serves over 83 mn customers in more than 70 countries. On the insurance side, Allianz is the market leader in the German market and has a strong international presence. In fiscal 2013 the Allianz group achieved total revenues of approximately 110.0 bn euros. Allianz is one of the world's largest asset managers, with third-party assets of 1,361 bn euros under management at the year end 2013.

As on December 31, 2013 source: http://allianz.com

Insurance Operations

Allianz offers a wide range of insurance and asset management products and services to its customers. Insurance operations such as Property-Casualty and Life/Health insurance. Allianz is a leading property-casualty insurer globally and rank among the top five in the life/health insurance business. Most of the insurance markets are served by local Allianz companies while selected business lines are run globally such as Global Corporate Customers, Credit Insurance, Assistance Services, Worldwide Care, Global Automotive and Reinsurance.

Asset Management

With approximately 1,770 billion euros assets under management, Allianz is one of the largest asset managers in the world managing assets with active investment strategies. Asset Management business has been split in to two investment management businesses, PIMCO and Allianz Global Investors (AllianzGI). Both units operate under Allianz Asset Management (AAM). Particular strongholds include the United States, Germany, France, Italy, the United Kingdom and the Asia-Pacific region. As of December 31, 2013, Allianz managed 1,361 billion euros of third-party assets of which the share from institutional clients amounted to 63% while 37% came from retail clients.

Allianz Strengths 

Allainz strengths as listed at company's fact sheet.

• Leading Property and Casualty insurer globally
• Top 5 in Life insurance business globally
• Worldwide leader in credit insurance
• One of the leading Asset Managers globally
• Strong ratings: Standard & Poor's: AA | Moody's Aa3 | A.M. Best A+
• Combined ratio 2013 94.3% and Solvency ratio 2013 182%

Revenue & Operating profit Allianz Group 2013

Within a five year period (2009-2013)Allianz Operating profit has increased from EUR 7 bn to EUR 10.1 bn increase of 44,28% and Shareholders equity EUR 40.1 bn to EUR 50.1 bn increase 25,25%

 

Dividend And Dividend policy

Dividend policy:

"Within the scope of our results and the need for adequate capitalization we aim to provide our shareholders with an attractive dividend. Our dividend policy is one of continuity. In addition, we endeavor to return excess capital that is not needed to finance growth to our shareholders, either by way of a dividend payout or by buying back shares. As a rule, the actual dividend proposal is announced on publication of the results for the fiscal year."

Between 2003 to 2013 Allianz has increased their dividend from €1.50 to €5.30 this represent an increase of 253,33% average of 25.33% yearly.

Pricing 

Xetra:

Allianz SE (ALV) is currently trading at EUR 133.05, P/E 9.97, EPS 13.34 and Div/yield €5.30/3.98% With current dividend and EPS the payout ratio is 39,73%

In the U.S. Allianz shares are traded in the over-the-counter (OTC) market via American Depositary Receipts (ADR). The Allianz ADR are quoted on OTCQX under the ticker symbol AZSEY.

Disclosure: I will ad Allianz SE to my watchlist to follow the company's future development.
 

How about you? found anything lately? | How do you like my review? Are you planning to invest European companies?
 

Source: https://www.allianz.com/ | google.com/finance