With the last week of August comes one of the slowest weeks on Wall Street as many New York traders hit the beach and vacation spots for the last time before the kids go back to school and the street gets down to business. While we can expect some slow trading this week, the return of the legions next Tuesday should get the ball rolling.

One thing everybody is looking for is stocks that have some decent value characteristics and pay a solid dividend. We scanned the top picks at Jefferies this week and found four stocks rated Buy that also pay solid dividends.

Huntsman

This top stock to buy offers intriguing potential for value expansion. Huntsman Corp. (NYSE: HUN) manufactures and sells differentiated organic and inorganic chemical products worldwide. It operates in five segments: Polyurethanes, Performance Products, Advanced Materials, Textile Effects, and Pigments and Additives.

The company’s products are used in various applications, including adhesives, aerospace, automotive, construction products, personal care and hygiene, durable and non-durable consumer products, electronics, medical, packaging, paints and coatings, power generation, refining, synthetic fiber, textile chemicals and dye industries.

The company recently announced a plan to spin off a specialty chemical business rather than sell it, and that will create a new publicly traded company by early next year. The Jefferies team is bullish on the spin-off and feels that there is solid value for shareholders at current levels.

Huntsman shareholders are paid a solid 2.95% dividend. The Jefferies price target for the stock is $20, and the Wall Street consensus is set at $19.50. The shares closed last Friday at $16.98.
Monsanto

This large cap materials and agriculture leader is being pursue by Bayer while it has been considering a purchase of BASF agricultural assets. Monsanto Co. (NYSE: MON) operates in two segments. The Seeds and Genomics segment produces raw crop seeds, including corn, soybean, cotton and canola seeds under the DEKALB, Channel, Asgrow and Deltapine brands, and vegetable seeds, such as tomato, pepper, melon, cucumber, squash, beans, broccoli, onions, lettuce and others under the Seminis and De Ruiter brands.

The segment also develops biotechnology traits that assist farmers in controlling insects and weeds in corn, soybean, cotton and canola crops under the SmartStax, YieldGard, YieldGard VT Triple, VT Triple PRO, and VT Double PRO brands, and Intacta RR2 PRO and Bollgard and Bollgard II, as well as Roundup Ready and Roundup Ready 2 Yield and Genuity brands.

The Agricultural Productivity segment manufactures and sells herbicides for agricultural, industrial, ornamental, turf and residential lawn and garden applications for weed control, as well as for control of pre-emergent annual grass and small seeded broadleaf weeds in corn and other crops under the Roundup and Harness brands.

The Jefferies team thinks a $130 or higher bid from Bayer should close the deal and could be coming soon.

Investors are paid a 2.01% dividend. The Jefferies price objective is $132 per share, and the consensus target is much lower at $113.04. The stock closed Friday at $107.40.

Tesoro

This top energy company was one of the top picks at Jefferies as it picked up coverage last week on refiners. Tesoro Corp. (NYSE: TSO) is an independent refiner and marketer of petroleum products. Through its subsidiaries, it operates six refineries in the western United States with a combined capacity of 875,000 barrels per day, and it has ownership in a logistics business that includes an interest in Tesoro Logistics and ownership of its general partner. Tesoro’s retail-marketing system includes over 2,300 retail stations under the ARCO, Shell, Exxon, Mobil, Rebel and Tesoro brands.

By 2017, the company expects about $1 billion of EBITDA from its logistics segment. The company plans to grow the segment by focusing on low-risk, accretive growth projects. While some on Wall Street say the easy money has been made in the refiners, Tesoro remains a top play, especially as the company widens business silos and opportunities

Tesoro investors are paid a 2.97% dividend. Jefferies has a whopping $101 price target for the shares, and the consensus target is $94.14. The stock ended last week at $73.95.

WestRock

This company was removed this summer from the Jefferies Franchise Picks list, but it is still a favorite at the firm and stays Buy rated. WestRock Co. (NYSE: WRK) is the completed and merged entity that combined the old Rock-Tenn and MeadWestvaco. It became the second-largest U.S. packaging company, valued at $10.7 billion, trailing only International Paper with its market capitalization of just under $15 billion.

WestRock trades with a 10+ free-cash-flow yield, and owing to demand resiliency and lower spending, Jefferies believes cash flow can hold up even in a tougher economic environment. With the company’s big competitor raising containerboard prices by $50 a ton, the team feel that earnings could increase by a massive 38%. They note fall increases are rare, and a partial increase may be the most likely end result.

WestRock investors receive a very tempting 3.12% dividend. While the Jefferies price target is $53, note that the consensus target is all the way up at $70.56. Shares closed Friday at $48.05.

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These four top stocks to buy have outstanding value characteristics and solid dividend yields. They make sense for balanced portfolios looking for growth and income.

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