More Cuts to my DSPP Monthly Investment

Since I have reached enough dividend income to support my expenses, I am looking for ways to reduce my dividend income and any resultant taxes. So I gave my monthly investment plan another look for places to cut the fat. The result follows:

Ticker	Rating	DGI	Shiller PE	Yield	Payout Ratio	Monthly Invest	Sector	Sector Total	Sector Percent
NVS	A1	D	18.36	3.59%	0.66	$200.00	Healthcare	$200.00	8.70%
GIS	A1	B	16.72	4.15%	0.69	$200.00	Staples	$200.00	8.70%
XOM	B+1	A	11.86	4.19%	0.50	$300.00	Energy	$300.00	13.04%
AFL	D	A	14.50	2.22%	0.32	$200.00	Financial	$600.00	26.09%
RLI	D	A	27.51	1.13%	0.31	$200.00
TSS	D	D	53.21	0.55%	0.29	$200.00
AYI	D	D	32.04	0.36%	0.12	$200.00	Technology	$200.00	8.70%
UNP	A2	C	27.18	2.14%	0.58	$200.00	Industrial	$400.00	17.39%
VMI	D	D	20.05	1.07%	0.21	$200.00
YORW	D	B	34.85	2.17%	0.76	$200.00	Utility	$200.00	8.70%
OMC	B2	C	16.58	3.50%	0.58	$200.00	Discretionary	$200.00	8.70%
Total			24.24	2.36%	0.57	$2,300.00		$2,300.00	100.00%
Rating	$	%			DGI	$	%
A	$600	26%			A	$700.00	30%
B	$500	22%			B	$400.00	17%
C	$0	0%			C	$400.00	17%
D	$1,200	52%			D	$800.00	35%
Total	$2,300	100%			Total	$2,300.00	100%
Rating is based on Morningstar as follows:
A=Wide Moat; B=Narrow Moat; C=No Moat; D=Not rated by Morningstar
+=Exemplary; [blank]=Standard; -=Poor stewardship
1=Low; 2=Medium; 3=High; 4=Very High uncertainty
DGI (Dividend Growth Investing) as follows:
A=25+ years of higher dividends;
B=10-24 years of higher dividends;
C=5-9 years of higher dividends;
D= less than 5 years of higher dividends.

I eliminated Sanofi (SNY, 4.42% yield), Keurig Dr Pepper (KDP, 2.54% yield), and Bemis (BMS, 2.49% yield). These are slow growers with high dividend and payout, so good riddance. I will divert the cash flows to higher growth stocks with lower dividend payouts in my brokerage accounts.

I'm not a big fan of NVS, GIS, XOM, and OMC for their high dividend yields, but they are all trading at very attractive prices and are the only remaining representatives for their sectors. To remove them would remove allocation to their respective sectors. I'm not ready for such a big move yet. Also, their payout ratios are not too high, and I am hoping that they could revert back to growth and carry their stock prices up with it.

AFL, UNP, and YORW have slightly higher than market yields. AFL has low valuation. UNP has good rating. YORW offers discount as well as being the only representative of its sector. So I'm keeping these for now.

RLI, TSS, AYI, and VMI are the best of the bunch with acceptably low dividend yield. I may eventually trim my DSPP monthly investment down to these.

My DSPP monthly investment is now down to just 11 stocks after these changes. I am now contributing just $2300 per month at a 2.36% overall yield, which generates $651 annual dividend and $98 in additional taxes, assuming 15% tax rate. That is down from a high of $4000 per month at 2.32% yield, which would generate $1114 annual dividend. It's an improvement, but further cuts may be indicated. I am waiting for a significant increase in the prices of the higher yielding stocks to cease continual investment in them.