Back on April 11 when I sold Wells Fargo (WFC) and the Invesco KBW Bank ETF (KBWB) out of portfolios to reduce my exposure to a slowing economy caused by the Federal Reserve interest rate increases, I kept my position in U.S. Bancorp (USB) because I wanted to collect the dividend due to be paid out on April 15 (and because I thought super-regional U.S. Bancorp, as one of the best managed banks in the country, was less exposed to the downward trend in the sector.)
Well, as of May 19, I’ve certainly collected my quarterly dividend (the stock current yields 3.75%) and the downward trend in financial stocks has picked up speed with the Fed announcing (well, as close to “announcing” as the Fed ever does) interest rate increases for the June, July and September meetings of the central bank, so I’ll be selling U.S. Bancorp out of my Jubak Picks Portfolio tomorrow May 20.
The stock is down 10.73% since I added it to the portfolio on March 19, 2021.
Just for fun, I ran some numbers of Wells Fargo and U.S. Bancorp. Since my April 11 sell of Wells Fargo that stock is down 15% as of the close on May 19. From that April 11 non-sell to the close on ay 17, shares of U.S. Bancorp were down 4.8%.
U.S. Bancorp was indeed a “better” bank stock in that period. But I still would have been slightly better off selling the shares–dividend payout or not–on April 11 rather than holding them for a sell tomorrow.
