15 DRIPS - The Rest of the Dow, 10 - 12 of 15

15 DRIPS – The Rest of the Dow 10 – 12 of 15

Originally, I thought 27 out of the 30 stocks that make up the Dow offered either Direct Purchase Plans (DPPs) or Dividend Reinvestment Plans (DRIPs) with 12 of the companies offering DPPs and 15 offering DRIPs only.

Well, what I’ve learned so far is that I haven’t found a single source on the internet yet that is wholly accurate so we’ll have to wait until I go through each individual company in the Dow and that means learning the Transfer Agent for each company and reviewing any prospectus, plan or brochure that may be available. On some occasions I’ve ordered Investment Kits directly from any company I had questions about just to help ensure accuracy.

When I get through the final six stocks I’ll get them in a table with the most relevant information and then I’ll also have details available for each company.

Today, we investigate Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ), Honeywell International Inc. (HON) and Intel Corporation (INTC).

Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) DRIP

Initial Setup	.
Initial Purchase	NA - DRIP Only
One Time Setup Fee	$0.00
Shares to Qualify for DRIP	10
.	.
Purchase Limits	.
Min Purchase	$50.00
Max Purchase	$10,000 /month
.	.
Transaction Fees	.
Optional Cash Investments	$2.50
Automatic Investments	$1.25
Dividend Reinvestments	.lessor of 5% or $2.50
.	.
Fees per Share	.
From a Purchase	$0.08/share
From a Sale	$0.08/share
.	.
Sales Fee	$10.00
.	.
Plan Brochure	.
Transfer Agent	ComputerShare

Honeywell International Inc. (HON) DRIP

Honeywell is either a bit of an odd duck or amazingly refreshing depending upon how you want to look at it. I've been to the company website at the Investors Relations section to learn about a supposed DRIP they offered but, all I found was a recomendation to go to www.Sharebuilder.com and use their service if you want to buy Honeywell stock!
After looking at how expensive it is to get into Hewlett-Packard's DRIP program we may be inclined to think Sharebuilder isn't such a bad idea and in reality, it's not a bad idea. Sharebuilder.com is a premier investing site, very professional and well established. I've had a couple of accounts with them since the year 2000.

Sharebuilder.com is a benchmark I have in my head that I use to compare with all these DPPs and DRIPs we are discovering because I know at Sharebuilder you'll never pay more than $4.00 for a single purchase and for only $12.00 you are allowed to make 6 different purchases in a given month which means only $2.00 per transaction plus, the dividend reinvestments are always free.

But, there are gems to be had with reference to DPPs & DRIPs. For example, companies like ExxonMobil, 3M & Pfizer which don't charge a dime for anything except the sale of the stock.

Even with some other companies like Johnson & Johnson or Coca~Cola the most you'll be charged is a single dollar for monthly purchases. So, let's keep looking for more of these gems with our next stock, Intel.


Intel Corporation (INTC) - DPP & DRIP

Initial Setup	.
Initial Purchase	$250
One Time Setup Fee	$10.00
Shares to Qualify for DRIP	1
.	.
Purchase Limits	.
Min Purchase	$50.00
Max Purchase	$100,000 /year
.	.
Transaction Fees	.
Optional Cash Investments	$4.00
Automatic Investments	$2.50
Dividend Reinvestments	$0.00
.	.
Fees per Share	.
From a Purchase	$0.05/share
From a Sale	$0.05/share
.	.
Sales Fee	$4.00
.	.
Plan Brochure	.
Transfer Agent	ComputerShare

Here, the information on the Transfer Agents site differs with the Intel provided Plan brochure. Computershare says additional cash purchases invoke a $5.00 fee while the Intel brochure clearly states on pages 6 and 7 that the fee is $4.00. In this case the companies brochure will supersede the information found on the transfer agents summary page. Just noticed that the sale fee differs also - Computershare site list 10 cents for per share fees while the brochure list 5 cents.

Again, the minimum monthly purchase here comes out to $2.50+ which exceeds what you would pay on Sharebuilder w/ the $12 option but, I suppose if someone doesn't want to make six purchases per month then it is a bit cheaper than the $4.00 price at sharebuilder for a single purchase.

Next post we'll continue our investigation into the DOW by looking at J.P. Morgan Chase & Co (JPM), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and Microsoft (MSFT).

After those stocks we only have United Technologies and Verizon to consider then we can provide some accurate information in some easy to read tables. I'm sure we'll have one table with the stocks in alphabetical order but then we'll rank them in order of expense, from FREE to not so free.