€270 in Dividends in July: An Update on My €258,000 Stock Portfolio

It's time again for a dividend update. Today we look at which companies paid out to me in July, how much came in – and, because it wasn't quite as much this month as usual, in a bit more detail how my dividends are developing overall and what I have planned for the future.

As always, the most important note up front: this is not investment advice and not a buy recommendation. I only ever share my personal opinion and my personal investments. I'm responsible for my money, you're responsible for yours – always make your own decision.

Portfolio overview: €258,235 in the portfolio

Before we get to the dividends, some quick context: my stock portfolio currently stands at €258,235, and I'm slightly in the green at 2.35%, or almost €6,000 in price gains. On top of that come €8,432.14 in dividends already received and €15,371 in realised gains. The internal rate of return (XIRR) is 11.43%.

My full portfolio is shared live via Parqet – so you can look at the composition, dividends and analyses yourself at any time. A detailed update with the individual positions, analyses and this month's purchases follows as usual in a week or two in its own article. Today the focus is deliberately on the dividends only.

My biggest winners and losers in July

Among the price winners, DHL led in percentage terms, followed by Chevron, Allianz, Microsoft, Coca-Cola and Ferrari. Microsoft ran particularly well recently: I'm now up 22.43% there, and in just the last week or two it rose by around €3,500.

On the losing side, Zoetis is furthest down at −25% – a relatively large position for me. Behind it come Novo Nordisk (still my little problem child), PepsiCo, McDonald's, LVMH and Hermès, which dropped sharply a week or two ago. With McDonald's, my second-largest position, I bought more despite the weaker price development in July and will probably keep adding.

Overall, Visa and Allianz ran very well recently, while Munich Re and LVMH were more mixed. Procter & Gamble and Waste Management are becoming interesting again for me for further purchases.

Dividends in July: €270

Now to the actual topic: in July I received around €270 in dividends – compared to the other months this year rather little, but I'm not complaining.

Payouts came from, among others:

• Coca-Cola: €54.99
• Vici Properties: €73.16
• Main Street Capital: the payout on my 200 shares is oddly split into two partial payments (150 + 50 shares, making two separate PDFs) – that's not the special payout, by the way, which didn't come this month at all.
• Realty Income: €38.66 (the monthly payer, where I now hold 220 shares)

If you know whether this Main Street Capital splitting also happens with brokers other than Smartbroker, let me know in the comments – I'm genuinely curious what causes it.

My personal dividend yield

My personal dividend yield currently sits at 2.51%, but it's climbing month by month. Long-term it settles more at 3.5–4% – it's still relatively low right now because I've invested a huge amount of fresh capital in recent months and the yield relates to the dividends historically received so far. Once the newly invested positions have a full year of payouts behind them, the yield should quickly climb above 3%.

Dividend income over the last 12 months stands at €6,334.80 – so already over €500 per month on average.

Why July was a weak month

Since the start of this portfolio in August 2024 (the first dividends came in September 2024, just €5 back then), the development has risen decently. This year, May was the peak month so far at just under €1,500, June was €620, and July, at around €270, is one of the weaker months of 2026 – simply because seasonally fewer of my positions pay out in this period.

The forecast for the coming months looks clearly better again: over €300 is expected for August, over €600 for September. The weakest remaining month this year is likely to be November at around €209.

Dividends in a year-on-year comparison: a look at December

A comparison I find interesting myself: how has a single month – here December – developed over the years?

• December 2024: €39.42
• December 2025: €702
• December 2026 (forecast): €839
• December 2027 (forecast): €920

I assume December 2026 will end up over €1,000, because I keep investing and the forecast only counts the positions already known.

My top dividend payers overall

Looking at which position has paid out the most so far, Realty Income leads for me with €620.44, ahead of Allianz at €543 and Munich Re at €480. Novo Nordisk should move up to 3rd or 4th place after the next payout this month. McDonald's is now at just under €200 after the recent purchases and should climb noticeably through further buying.

Annual dividends: from the start to the €10,000 mark

Looking at the complete annual totals shows nicely how strongly my portfolio has developed:

• 2024: just under €60 (started only in August, so little was invested)
• 2025: around €4,000 (from March 2025, including during the "Trump crash", I invested significantly more – from €30 in January through €135 in March to over €500 in May)
• 2026: the target is at least €7,000, at best even €8,000
• 2027 (forecast): currently around €8,500 – but my personal goal is at least €10,000, ideally even €12,000 (i.e. an average of €1,000 in dividends per month, from which taxes are of course also deducted)

In the 2027 forecast, some months are already really strong (March approx. €1,100, April approx. €1,173, May over €2,000, June €760, September €705, December €920), others still lag behind: January, February, July, August, October and November. If you know interesting, fairly or cheaply valued dividend stocks that pay into these weaker months – bring them on in the comments, I'm open to any suggestion.

On the side: a free McDonald's share via Smartbroker+

Since McDonald's just came up: there's currently a promotion where, as a new customer at Smartbroker+*, you can secure a share of McDonald's stock worth €20 – including the dividends on it. You'll find all the details in my own article on it.

And if you'd like to try Parqet Plus* yourself – the tool I use to track and share my entire portfolio live – you'll get 15% off through my link.

Conclusion

€270 was rather little compared to the other months this year, but given the forecasts for August and September I'm not worried – the portfolio keeps growing solidly towards my goal of €10,000 in annual dividends. How did your July look – how much dividend did you receive, and do you have any interesting stocks on your watchlist right now? Let me know in the comments.