4 Solid Dividend Stocks to Buy in Whipsawed Markets By Hemmerling. If you are not the type of investor to jump on the bond-market bandwagon during market instability, perhaps looking at a few conservative dividend stocks will give the desired results during volatile conditions. Due to the beaten up financial sector, when looking at virtually any time frame over the past year, we will exclude any such company.
Some of the criteria we will look for are:
-Seven years of increasing dividends
-Seven-year dividend growth rate greater than 10%
-Current earnings growth above the three-year average
-A reduction in liabilities/assets on the quarterly report
-Yield greater than 3 percent
-Payout ratio less than 50% (or 85% for utility companies)
Here are the results:
Avista Corporation (AVA)
Dividend yield of 4.3%
Darden Restaurants (DRI)
Dividend yield at 3.3%
Procter & Gamble (PG)
3.2% expected dividend yield
Wisconsin Energy Corporation (WEC)
Dividend yield of 3.3%
Related Stock Ticker:
AVA, DRI, PG, WEC
Source: Seeking Alpha