The Dogs of the Dow is a well-known strategy first published in 1991 by Michael Higgins. The plan seeks to maximize the yield of investments by buying the ten highest-paying dividend stocks available from the Dow Jones Industrial Average each year. The highest-yielding stocks are also the lowest-priced stocks in the venerable average, as the lower a stock (or bond) goes in price, the higher the attached yield or coupon becomes.

While the Nasdaq surged 43% and the S&P 500 has risen 24.2% in 2023, both up at 10% this year, investors attempting to chase the market rally may find themselves in a precarious position. Trying to pick up nickels in front of a bulldozer, they likely have yet to see the lion’s share of the big money already made.

Here are the four current highest-yielding Dogs of the Dow for 2024, listed in order of the highest yield. While all are rated Buy across Wall Street, investors can buy some quality stocks with solid and dependable dividends at lower prices than at the start of 2024. This shows how much retail investors’ money is after Artificial intelligence and hot technology stocks.

3M

This top company could jump with a continued economic pick-up. The shares have rallied over the last month and pay a solid 6.57% dividend. 3M Company (NYSE: MMM) is a diversified technology company worldwide.

It operates through four segments:

• Safety and Industrial
• Transportation and Electronics
• Health Care
• Consumer

The Safety and Industrial segment offers:

• Industrial abrasives and finishing for metalworking applications
• Auto body repair solutions
• Closure systems for personal hygiene products
• Masking and packaging materials
• Electrical products and materials for construction and maintenance
• Power distribution and electrical original equipment manufacturers
• Structural adhesives and tapes
• Respiratory, hearing, eye, and fall protection solutions
• Natural and color-coated mineral granules for shingles

The 3M Transportation and Electronics segment provides:

• Ceramic solutions
• Attachment tapes
• Films, sound, and temperature management for vehicles
• Premium large-format graphic films for advertising and fleet signage
• Light management films and electronics assembly solutions
• Packaging and interconnection solutions
• Reflective signage for highway and vehicle safety

Italy, the company’s Healthcare segment offers:

• Food safety indicator solutions
• Healthcare procedure coding and reimbursement software
• Skin, wound care, and infection prevention products and solutions
• Dentistry and orthodontic solutions
• Filtration and purification systems

The Consumer segment provides:

• Consumer bandages
• Braces, supports, and consumer respirators;
• Cleaning products for the home
• Retail abrasives
• Paint accessories
• Car care DIY products
• Picture hanging
• Consumer air quality solutions
• Stationery products

Verizon Communications

This top telecommunications company offers tremendous value and pays investors a 6.37% dividend. Verizon Communications, Inc (NYSE: VZ) is one of the largest US telecom companies. It provides wireless and wireline services to retail, enterprise, and wholesale customers.

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

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

Dow

This company was spun out from Dupont in 2019 and offers investors growth and income potential with a hefty 4.82% dividend. Dow Inc. (NYSE: DOW) is a leading materials science company formed by the merger of Dow and DuPont in 2017 and subsequent spin in 2019.

The company is organized into three principal divisions:

• Performance Materials & Coatings 
• Industrial Intermediates & Infrastructure 
• Packaging & Specialty Plastics 

The Company’s segments include Agricultural Sciences, which provides crop protection, seed/plant biotechnology products and technologies, urban pest management solutions, and healthy oils.

Consumer Solutions, which consists of:

• Consumer Care
• Dow Automotive Systems
• Dow Electronic Materials
• Consumer Solutions-Silicones businesses

Infrastructure Solutions, which consists of:

• Dow Building & Construction
• Dow Coating Materials
• Energy & Water Solutions
• Performance Monomers and Infrastructure Solutions-Silicones businesses;
• Performance Materials & Chemicals, which consists of Chlor-Alkali and Vinyl, Industrial Solutions and Polyurethanes businesses
• Performance Plastics, which consists of Dow Elastomers, Dow Electrical and Telecommunications, Dow Packaging and Specialty Plastics
• Energy and Hydrocarbons businesses

 Walgreens Boots Alliance

This huge drugstore chain is a safe retail play, paying a 4.76% dividend. Walgreens Boots Alliance (NYSE: WBA) is a pharmacy-led health and beauty retail company with three segments:

• Retail Pharmacy USA
• Retail Pharmacy International
• Pharmaceutical Wholesale

The Retail Pharmacy USA segment sells prescription drugs and various retail products, including health, wellness, beauty, personal care, consumables, and general merchandise products, through its retail drugstores.

It also provides specialty pharmacy services and mail services. This segment operates nearly 10,000 retail stores under the Walgreens and Duane Reade brands in the United States and six specialty pharmacies.

Walgreens Boots Alliance’s Retail Pharmacy International segment is a testament to its diverse product offerings. It sells prescription drugs, health and wellness products, beauty products, personal care products, and other consumer products through its pharmacy-led health and beauty stores and optical practices.

The International segment has operations in:

• The United Kingdom,
• Thailand,
• Norway,
• The Republic of Ireland,
• The Netherlands
• Mexico
• Chile 

The company also operates 550 optical practices, including 165 on a franchise basis.

The Pharmaceutical Wholesale segment engages in the wholesale and distribution of specialty and generic pharmaceuticals, health and beauty products, and home healthcare supplies and equipment, as well as provides related services to pharmacies and other healthcare providers.

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