All good things must come to an end. We are near the end of the long stimulus-induced Federal Reserve money-printing boondoggle. Combined with massive government spending and round after round of $120 billion per month of quantitative easing, the liquidity seemed to never end. Just like in 1999, who cares about valuations anyway? Well, the piper must be paid, and we may have seen the beginning of that payment last week as the Nasdaq posted the biggest four-day loss since February of last year.

Many on Wall Street continue to cite the so-called TINA (“there is no alternative”) conundrum, as rates are still very low on a historical basis despite the current increases and those that are expected. The reality is that they are right and equities will remain the place to be for everybody except those with an extremely low risk tolerance.

What makes sense is to rotate to value, especially mid-cap and large-cap value that pays consistent and dependable dividends. We screened our 24/7 Wall St. research database and found five outstanding ideas for investors. It is important to remember that no single analyst report should be used as a sole basis for any buying or selling decision.

AT&T

This is a top telecom and entertainment play. AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) is the largest U.S. telecom company and provides wireless and wireline service to retail, enterprise and wholesale customers. The company’s wireless network serves approximately 124 million mobile connections, with 77 million postpaid subscribers.

In an attempt to lower its large debt load, AT&T last year agreed to sell a stake in its pay-TV unit to private-equity firm TPG and carve out the struggling business, pulling the telecom giant back from a costly wager on entertainment. The transaction moved the DirecTV and AT&T TV services in the United States into a new entity run jointly by the new partners. AT&T retains a 70% stake in the business, while TPG pays $1.8 billion in cash for a 30% stake.

The company also spun off Warner Media and merged it with Discovery. AT&T will be resetting its legacy dividend lower, which will greatly help the company manage cash flow. It is expected that the new dividend payment will be around $1.15, since there are likely to be more shares outstanding by the time of the spinoff. Based on Friday’s closing price, investors will still receive a very solid 4.30% dividend.

AT&T stock has been battered ever since the dividend cut and spin-offs were announced, but the reality is it has an incredible business and has done an outstanding job in chopping its massive debt and getting rid of nonperforming assets.

BofA Securities has a Buy rating with a $36 price target. The consensus target is just $30.26, and shares closed on Friday at $26.29.

This is the largest publicly traded energy partnership and a leading North American provider of midstream energy services to producers and consumers. Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE: EPD) provides a wide variety of midstream energy services, including gathering, processing, transportation and storage of natural gas, natural gas liquids (NGLs) fractionation, import and export terminaling, and offshore production platform services.

The company has four reportable business segments: Natural Gas Pipelines and Services, NGL Pipelines and Services, Petrochemical Services and Crude Oil Pipelines and Services.

One reason many analysts like the stock might be its distribution coverage ratio. This ratio is well above 1 times, making it relatively less risky among the master limited partnerships. Trading at a reasonable 10.7 times estimated 2022 earnings, this stock is a solid value now.

Enterprise Products Partners stock investors receive a 7.95% distribution. Goldman Sachs price target on the Buy-rated stock is $26, a little less than the $28.30 consensus target. Shares closed at $23.40 on Friday.

Ethan Allen Interiors

This very well-known 90-year-old furniture and home decor stock trades at less than nine times estimated 2022 earnings. Ethan Allen Interiors Inc. (NYSE: ETD) operates as an interior design company and manufacturer and retailer of home furnishings in North America.

Ethan Allen Interiors products include case goods items, such as beds, dressers, armoires, tables, chairs, buffets, entertainment units, home office furniture and wooden accents; upholstery items, comprising sleepers, recliners and other motion furniture, chairs, ottomans, custom pillows, sofas, loveseats, cut fabrics and leather; and home accent items including window treatments and drapery hardware, wall decors, florals, lighting, clocks, mattresses, bedspreads, throws, pillows, decorative accents, area rugs, wall coverings and home and garden furnishings.

The company markets and sells its products under the Ethan Allen brand through home furnishing retail networks and independent retailers, as well as through its website. As of June 30, 2021, it operated a network of approximately 302 design centers.

Shareholders receive a 4.39% dividend. The $40 Argus price target on the Buy-rated shares is well above the $28 consensus target on the stock. The final trade on Friday came in at $26.43 per share.

This top utility delivers big dividends. PPL Corp. (NYSE: PPL) serves approximately 425,000 electric and 332,000 natural gas customers in Louisville and adjacent areas in Kentucky; 536,000 electric customers in central, southeastern and western Kentucky; and 28,000 electric customers in five counties in southwestern Virginia.

The company also provides electric delivery services to approximately 1.4 million customers in Pennsylvania, and it operates an electricity distribution network for the Midlands, South West and Wales in the United Kingdom.

PPL also offers a range of customer-care and back-office services to competitive retail energy suppliers, including customer enrollments; contract management; electronic data exchange; simple and complex billing; and call center operations comprising telemarketing, payment processing and collections of overdue accounts.

PPL  stock investors receive a 5.49% yield. Royal Bank of Canada has a $48 price target to go with its Outperform rating and a big. The $31.14 consensus price target is closer to the share price of $30.25 on Friday’s close.

Rio Tinto

Shares of this mining company could explode higher if the world economy rebounds strongly in 2022. Rio Tinto PLC (NYSE: RIO) is the world’s second-largest mining company and has operations in Australia, Africa, the Americas, Europe and Asia. It is the world’s largest producer of aluminum, the second-largest producer of iron ore and a top-five producer of alumina, uranium, mined copper, export thermal and coking coal, and diamonds.

In addition, Rio Tinto is also involved in alumina production; primary aluminum smelting; bauxite mining; alumina refining; and ilmenite, rutil, and zircon mining; as well as provision of gypsum.

The company pays dividends semi-annually instead of quarterly, and the current distribution is a massive 9.48%. This mining powerhouse is a solid stock to own and trades at an incredible 6.27 times earnings. It also is way off the 52[week high, which really makes for a good value idea now.

The BofA Securities price objective is $75 and the rating is Buy. The shares closed most recently at $72.24, above the consensus target price of $71.19.

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These five top stocks are trading at very reasonable levels, come with solid dividends and, most of all, are solid value plays in a market that looks poised to take a big hit, if not now, then certainly in the near future.

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