Since the lows in March of 2020, the stock market has doubled. Think about that for a moment. The S&P 500 closed at 2,237 on March 23 of that year and closed Wednesday at 4,402, just shy of an incredible 100% gain in 17 months. Numerous reasons have been cited for this, including the incredibly loose monetary policy that has been in place for years but went nuclear when the COVID-19 virus showed up in the winter of 2020. Toss in the Reddit/WallStreetBets crowd, which had government handouts to trade with while locked at home, and you had all the ingredients for the proverbial melt-up, and maybe a meltdown.
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The truly scary situation for investors is that the market hasn’t had a 5% correction in almost a year, which is very unusual. The difficult question for investors is what to do now? Sell everything and go to cash? That would be a great idea if money markets paid anything. The highest yielding money market savings account pays a lousy 0.4%. Banks literally pay almost zero for funds held in checking accounts.

One idea for those worried about a massive sell-off is to move to safe stocks that pay dividends. While they will not be immune to a risk-off move, the chances are good they will hold up better than crowded technology or meme stocks. We screened our 24/7 Wall St. research database and found five outstanding stocks that investors can move to now, and all are rated Buy by major Wall Street firms. It is important to remember that no single analyst report should be used as a sole basis for any buying or selling decision.

Coca-Cola

This remains a top Warren Buffet holding and offers not only safety but also an incredibly strong worldwide brand with 40% overseas sales. Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO) is the world’s largest beverage company, refreshing consumers with more than 500 sparkling and still brands.

Led by Coca-Cola, one of the world’s most valuable brands, the company’s portfolio features 20 billion-dollar brands including Diet Coke, Fanta, Sprite, Coca-Cola Zero, vitaminwater, Powerade, Minute Maid, Simply, Georgia and Del Valle. Globally, it is the number one provider of sparkling beverages, ready-to-drink coffees and juices and juice drinks.

Through the world’s largest beverage distribution system, consumers in more than 200 countries enjoy Coca-Cola beverages at a rate of more than 1.9 billion servings a day. Also remember that the company also owns 16.7% of Monster Beverage, which continues to deliver big numbers.

Investors receive a 3% dividend. The BofA Securities price target for the stock is $60, near the consensus target of $59.80. Coca-Cola stock closed on Wednesday at $56.10.

This top dividend payer also is a very safe play for investors. Colgate-Palmolive Co. (NYSE: CL) continues to deliver solid execution and is one of the best-positioned companies in its sector, given its strong brands in attractive categories, particularly oral care. Colgate also was one of the most valuable brands in the world.
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Over half of Colgate’s total revenues (52%) are derived in faster-growth emerging economies, and the company maintains leading or near-leading market shares across Brazil, Russia, India and China. While those have slowed over the last year, a pickup in growth could be coming, especially with a very weak dollar making products attractive overseas.

Colgate-Palmolive stock investors receive a 2.30% dividend. Goldman Sachs has a $99 price target, and the consensus target is $86.44. Shares traded at $78.25 on Wednesday’s close.

DTE Energy

With the potential for more hot summer weather, this company may look to extend gains into 2022. DTE Energy Inc. (NYSE: DTE) is the largest utility in Michigan. Its largest operating units are DTE Electric, an electric utility serving 2.2 million customers in southeastern Michigan, and DTE Gas, a natural gas utility serving 1.3 million customers in the state. DTE Energy also has non-utility energy businesses that focus on power and industrial projects, natural gas midstream and energy trading.

The company’s Gas segment purchases, stores, transports, distributes and sells natural gas to residential, commercial and industrial customers throughout Michigan, and it sells storage and transportation capacity. This segment has approximately 19,800 miles of distribution mains, 1,305,000 service pipelines and 1,273,000 active meters, as well as approximately 2,000 miles of transmission pipelines.

Its Gas Storage and Pipelines segment owns natural gas storage fields, lateral and gathering pipeline systems and compression and surface facilities. It also has ownership interests in interstate pipelines serving the Midwest, Ontario and northeast markets.

The company’s Power and Industrial Projects segment offers metallurgical coke, pulverized coal and petroleum coke to the steel, pulp and paper, and other industries, as well as power, steam and chilled water production and wastewater treatment services. It also supplies compressed air to industrial customers.

Shareholders receive a 2.80% dividend. This top utility’s stock is on the Conviction List at Goldman Sachs, which has a $137 price objective on it. That is well above the $129.565 consensus target and Wednesday’s closing price of $117.79.

It should come as no surprise this solid company is included as a safe bet for the rest of 2021. Kellogg Co. (NYSE: K) is the global leader in breakfast cereal, and its other principal products include crackers, crisps, savory snacks, toaster pastries, cereal bars, granola bars and bites, frozen waffles, veggie foods and noodles.
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The company offers its products under the Kellogg’s, Cheez-It, Pringles, Austin, Parati, RXBAR, Kashi, Bear Naked, Eggo, Morningstar Farms, Choco Krispies, Crunchy Nut, Nutri-Grain, Special K, Squares, Zucaritas, Sucrilhos, Pop-Tarts, K-Time, Split Stix, Be Natural, LCMs, Coco Pops, Rice Krispies Squares, Kashi Go, Vector and Gardenburger brand names.

Shareholders receive a 3.75% dividend. BofA Securities has set a $76 price target. The consensus target on Kellogg stock stands at $67.95, and the shares closed at $62.02 on Wednesday.

Verizon

Shares of this top telecommunications company offer tremendous value at current levels. Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) is one of the largest U.S. telecom companies. It provides wireless and wireline service to retail, enterprise and wholesale customers.

The company’s wireless network serves approximately 120 million mobile connections with 115 million postpaid subscribers. Verizon’s wireline business has undergone a period of secular decline due to wireless substitution and cable competition.

Verizon acquired AOL and Yahoo to create the Oath digital content platform, which the company recently sold at a sizable loss to Apollo Global Management for $5 billion. The sale allows Verizon to offload properties from the former internet empires, though it will keep a 10% stake in the company and it will be rebranded to just Yahoo.

Verizon also provides converged communications, information and entertainment services over America’s most advanced fiber-optic network, and it delivers integrated business solutions to customers worldwide.

Investors receive a 4.53% dividend. This one also resides on the Goldman Sachs Conviction List of top stocks picks. The firm’s $64 price target compares with the $60.51 consensus target. Verizon Communications stock ended Wednesday’s trading session at $55.37 a share.

Consumer staples leaders, an outstanding utility and a telecommunications giant all have shares rated Buy and have a much lower risk profile. While definitely the farthest ideas from the go-go momentum and mega-tech giants, they all pay dependable dividends and can soften the blow if we see a big sell-off over the next six to eight weeks.

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