Things have been quiet on the buy side of investing for The Stoic.  My last purchase was back in November and since then there have not been many opportunities to put cash to work.  Don’t get me wrong, its nice to watch the balance in my brokerage account trending up, but it comes with a cost; higher priced stocks.  So I’ve been patiently waiting for the time when the market goes the other direction.  Anyone who has read this blog for any length of times knows that I like to do my buying when stocks are on sale.  It is a habit I learned early on and one I have not been able to shake.  For now I have been happy investing in cash waiting for the right time to pick up a few shares of stocks on my watch list.  Today I was presented with such an opportunity…

Vodafone (VOD)

I’ve been watching VOD for well over a year now.  I was upset for not picking up shares when the price dropped to just over 25 back in November.  VOD has seen its share price decline in recent weeks and today I opened a position in the large international telecom.  I picked up 115 shares at 24.68 with a yield of 6%, based on the 2012 dividend.  Although I can’t predict which direction the VOD share price is heading next, I’m comfortable with adding a new stock to my portfolio at these prices.  If share price drops more or I see a bottom forming at the current price I’m likely to add more shares in the future.

If you want to know more about VOD I recommend checking out Dividend Growth Machine who was also a buyer at today’s prices.  Check out his site and his reasons for buying VOD and let me know what you think.