Despite all of the volatility we've seen in the market this year, from the global sell-off in January and February to the drop in the markets following the Brexit vote, the S&P 500 is up mid to high single digits.
While not all stocks have recovered – plenty of healthcare and financial services stocks are still trading lower than they were at the start of the year – many have rallied.
Several sectors that have traditionally been associated with yield and/or safety – like utilities and consumer defensive – have been bid up in the process.
Searching for yield in this type of environment can be fraught with risks, from price risk to the risk that a firm cannot meet its dividend commitment, which weighs on investors' minds.
It's definitely not easy to find real bargains and higher yielding stocks with low or calculable risks. Attached I've listed my screening results of stocks with a solid risk/reward ratio.
Each of the stocks pay a solid dividend, have shown a great past performance and offering operational upside potential.
These are the stocks...
Dividends and safety are an excellent combination for long-term investors, and safe stocks with high dividends are the best kind of all. Unfortunately, many high-paying stocks are volatile and risky -- the exact opposite of what long-term investors want.
To help you sort through all of your options, four of our contributors would like to tell you about dividend-paying dividend stocks that will let you sleep soundly at night.
My main criteria are the beta ratio. The financial market ratio compares the stock volatility with the broader market. Is the stock more volatile or risky, the ratio exceeds the magic number one.
Attached you will find a couple of stocks with the longest dividend growth history and lowest beta ratios on the market, a value below 0.50. Each of the presented stocks are had half of the market volatility.
These are the highest yielding results in detail...
Dividend Aristocrats are a group of 50 stocks in the S&P 500 Index that have increased their dividend payments for at least 25 consecutive years, a sign of impressive profitability, financial strength, and management's confidence in the business.
The Dividend Aristocrats index is thought to be composed of well known businesses long past their respective growth phases.
One of the top 10 fastest growing Dividend Aristocrats combines both growth and value. AFLAC (AFL) has a 10 year per share growth rate of 8.53%, and a P/E ratio less than 10.
It is rare to find businesses trading for cheap with a long history of dividend increases and strong growth.
It is particularly impressive to see businesses that are ‘in decline’ such as Coca-Cola (KO) and Pepsi (PEP) on the list.
Looking at each of the 50 dividend aristocrats on the list today here are the top 10 dividend stocks that could be the most successful companies over the next decade and beyond. All I've done is to select those stocks with the highest expected earnings growth for the next half decade.
The 20 Dividend Aristocrats with the highest expected 10 year earnings per share growth rates are below. Each of the twenty stocks should grow EPS by more than 10 percent.
These are the results...
The S&P 500 currently trades at 25 times earnings, its highest multiple in seven years.
Meanwhile, low interest rates are causing income investors to buy more dividend yielding stocks instead of bonds -- which has inflated the multiples on many dividend stalwarts to historically high levels.
Johnson & Johnson and General Mills, for example, respectively trade at 23 and 24 times earnings, but their yields are near multi-year lows.
It might seem hard to find any cheap dividend stocks in this frothy market.
However, income investors should note that "mature tech" stocks like Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO), and IBM (NYSE: IBM) still offer decent dividends with multiples under 15.
Attached you will find a couple of stocks from the Dividend Aristocrats List with cheap forward P/E's.
Each of the stocks has risen dividends over more than 25 consecutive years and beeing part of the Standard & Poor's Dividend Aristocrats list. In addition, the forward P/E is below 15 which represents an earnings yield of 6.6 percent.
These are the results...
If you're looking for a long-term winner as a retiree, it's hard to beat a stock that not only pays growing dividends, but whose shares are in the bargain bin because of short-term disappointments.
Even the highest-quality companies suffer setbacks, which can present a golden opportunity to buy beaten-down shares and watch them rebound.
In addition, with the stock having taken a hit, your investment dollars buy more shares, meaning a juicier yield and a bigger income stream for decades -- perhaps even the rest of your life.
Remember that no stock is without risk, and there are no guarantees. But if you have some patience and don't mind a little risk, these attached companies have a long history of solid performance and could make great choices for a retirement portfolio. All you need is a long-term investment horizon.
Here are the highest yielding dividend stocks in detail...
