24/7 Wall St. Insights

• The S&P 500 is up a stunning 16.5% this year, after a massive 2023.
• September is typically the worst-performing month for the stock market.
• Sit back and let dividends do the heavy lifting for a simple, steady path to serious wealth creation over time. Grab this free report today: Access 2 legendary, high-yield dividend stocks Wall Street loves.

Dividend stocks are a favorite among investors for good reason. They provide a steady income stream and offer a promising avenue for total return. Total return, a comprehensive measure of investment performance, encompasses interest, capital gains, dividends, and distributions realized over time.

At 247 Wall St., we consistently highlight the long-term potential of total return to our readers, as it is one of the most effective ways to boost the prospects of overall investing success. Once again, total return is the collective increase in a stock’s value plus dividends.

After nearly a two-year bull market run, the stock market is starting to wobble in September. As history tells us, since 1928, it has finished higher only 43% of the time, with an average decline of 1.2%. Currently, with the economy starting to slow down, the potential for the two wars now being fought to expand, and very contentious national and state elections just two months away, we could be on the verge of some significant selling.

Investors looking for defensive companies paying big dividends are drawn to the Dividend Aristocrats and with good reason. The 67 companies that made the cut for the 2024 S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats list have increased dividends (not just remained the same) for 25 years straight. But the requirements go even further, with the following attributes also mandatory for membership:

• Companies must be worth at least $3 billion each quarterly rebalancing.
• Average daily volume must be at least $5 million transactions for every trailing three-month period at every quarterly rebalancing date.
• Companies must be a member of the S&P 500.

We screened the list, looking for companies that could provide a safe haven in the event of a protracted and significant market sell-off. All five companies we picked have dividends that are classified as “very safe” and they should hold up better than overbought technology giants that have surged higher due to the artificial intelligence melt-up.

Why do we cover the Dividend Aristocrats?

S&P 500 companies that have paid and raised their dividends for 25 years or longer are the kind that growth and income investors want to buy and hold in stock portfolios forever. These stocks are mostly conservative, and should we see a dramatic market correction, they will likely keep their ground much better than volatile technology names.

Chevron

This integrated giant is a safer option for investors looking to position themselves in the energy sector, and it pays a rich 4.51% dividend. Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) engages in integrated energy and chemicals operations worldwide through its subsidiaries. It operates in two segments.

The Upstream segment is involved in the following:

• Exploration, development, production, and transportation of crude oil and natural gas
• Processing, liquefaction, transportation, and regasification associated with liquefied natural gas
• Transportation of crude oil through pipelines
• Transportation, storage, and marketing of natural gas, as well as operating a gas-to-liquids plant

The Downstream segment engages in:

• Refining crude oil into petroleum product
• Marketing crude oil, refined products, and lubricants
• Manufacturing and marketing renewable fuels
• Transporting crude oil and advanced products by pipeline, marine vessel, motor equipment, and rail car
• Manufacturing and marketing of commodity petrochemicals, plastics for industrial uses, and fuel and lubricant additives

Chevron announced last fall that it has entered into a definitive agreement with Hess Corp. (NYSE: HES) to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Hess in an all-stock transaction valued at $53 billion, or $171 per share based on Chevron’s closing price on October 20, 2023. Under the terms of the agreement, Hess shareholders will receive 1.0250 shares of Chevron for each Hess share. The transaction’s total enterprise value, including debt, is $60 billion.

Hormel Foods

With a dependable 3.41% dividend and a host of well-known products, this is a very safe idea for investors now. Hormel Foods Corp. (NYSE: HRL) develops, processes, and distributes various meat, nuts, and other food products to retail, food service, deli, and commercial customers in the United States and internationally.

It operates through three segments:

• Retail
• Foodservice
• International

The company provides various perishable products, including fresh meats, frozen items, refrigerated meal solutions, sausages, hams, guacamoles, and bacon; and shelf-stable products comprising canned luncheon meats, nut butter, snack nuts, chili, shelf-stable microwaveable meals, hash, stews, tortillas, salsas, tortilla chips, nutritional food supplements, and others.

It sells its products under these brands:

• Hormel
• Always Tender
• Applegate
• Austin Blues
• Bacon 1
• Black Label
• Bread Ready
• Burke
• Café H
• Ceratti
• Chi-Chi’s
• Columbus
• Compleats
• Corn Nuts
• Cure 81
• Dan’s Prize
• Di Lusso
• Dinty Moore
• Don Miguel
• Doña Maria Embasa
  Fast N Easy
• Fire Braised
• Fontanini
• Happy Little Plants
• Herdez
• Hormel Gatherings
• Hormel Square Table
• Hormel Vital Cuisine
• House of Tsang
• Jennie-O
• Justin’s
• La Victoria
• Layout
• Lloyd’s
• Mary Kitchen
• Mr. Peanut
• Natural Choice
• Nut-rition
• Old Smokehouse
• Oven Ready
• Pillow Pack
• Planters
• Rosa Grande Sadler’s Smokehouse
• Skippy
• Spam
• Special Recipe
• Thick & Easy
• Valley Fresh
• Wholly

Kimberly-Clark

This consumer staples leader is a safe bet for nervous investors, paying a dependable 3.31% dividend. Kimberly Clark Corp. (NYSE: KMB) and its subsidiaries manufacture and market personal care and consumer tissue products worldwide. It operates through three segments.

The Personal Care segment offers a diverse range of products, including:

• Disposable diapers
• Swim pants, training and youth pants, baby wipes
• Feminine and incontinence care products, as well as related products under the Huggies, Pull-Ups, Little Swimmers, GoodNites, DryNites, Sweety, Kotex, U by Kotex, Intimus, Depend, Plenitud, Softex, Poise, and other brand names

The Consumer Tissue segment provides facial and bathroom tissues, paper towels, napkins, and related products under the brand names:

• Kleenex
• Scott
• Cottonelle
• Viva
• Andrex
• Scottex
• Neve

The K-C Professional segment offers wipers, tissues, towels, apparel, soaps, and sanitizers under the Kleenex, Scott, WypAll, Kimtech, and KleenGuard brands.

Essex Property Trust

This stock has been strong, but it is an outstanding way for investors looking to add an inflation-busting real estate position that pays a big 3.24% dividend. Essex Property Trust Inc. (NYSE: ESS), an S&P 500 company, is a fully integrated real estate investment trust (REIT) that acquires, develops, redevelops, and manages multifamily residential properties in selected West Coast markets.

Essex currently has ownership interests in 254 apartment communities comprising approximately 62,000 apartment homes with an additional 6 properties in various stages of active development.

Consolidated Edison

This old-school utility stock offers income investors the stability and track record many seek now and a solid 3.21% dividend. Consolidated Edison Inc. (NYSE: ED), through its subsidiaries, engages in the regulated electric, gas, and steam delivery businesses in the United States.

It offers:

• Electric services to approximately 3.6 million customers in New York City and Westchester County
• Gas to about 1.1 million customers in Manhattan, the Bronx, parts of Queens, and Westchester County
• Steam to approximately 1,530 customers in parts of Manhattan

The company also supplies electricity to approximately 0.3 million customers in southeastern New York and northern New Jersey and gas to about 0.1 million customers in southeastern New York.

In addition, it operates:

• 543 circuit miles of transmission lines
• 15 transmission substations
• 63 distribution substations
• 87,951 in-service line transformers
• 3,869 pole miles of overhead distribution lines
• 2,320 miles of underground distribution lines
• 4,359 miles of mains
• 377,741 service lines for natural gas distribution

Consolidated Edison owns, develops, and operates renewable and energy infrastructure projects, provides energy-related products and services to wholesale and retail customers, and invests in electric and gas transmission projects.

Five Dividend Kings Provide Perfect Passive Income Streams for Retirement

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