Investing

3 Dividend Kings to Buy in January

Ian Cooper

Published: January 10, 2025 7:29 am

Some of the most attractive opportunities are the top dividend kings, all of which have raised their payout for 50+ years.

Even in times of economic disarray, inflation, booms, busts, rising interest rates, recessions, and crashes, they’ve still raised their dividends. If they can survive all of that and still raise their payouts, these top dividend kings are definitely worth buying and hold for yield and healthy stock price appreciation.

Key Points About This Article 

• Some of the most attractive opportunities are the top dividend kings, all of which have raised their payout for 50+ years. Even in times of economic disarray, inflation, booms, busts, rising interest rates, recessions, and crashes, they’ve still raised their dividends.
• With a yield of 2.55%, American States Water has been raising its dividend since 1931.
• With a yield of 3.2%, Coca-Cola (KO) is another must-own Dividend King.
• Do you own the right dividend stocks for 2025? An experienced financial advisor can help with a full portfolio review. Click here now to get started finding the right one for you. (sponsored)

If you’re looking for a top dividend kings ETF, you won’t find one. Instead, the next best ETF would be the oversold ProShares S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats ETF (BATS:NOBL). This one holds the Aristocrats or the stocks that have bumped their dividends higher for 25+ years.

If you simply want to bet strictly on the top dividend kings, here are three to consider.

American States Water

With a yield of 2.55%, American States Water (NYSE:AWR) has been raising its dividend since 1931. In fact, it paid out its latest dividend of $0.4655 on December 2. And while the stock did take a recent hit on a Wells Fargo downgrade, the pullback is overdone.

We also have to consider that AWR operates in a relatively safe utilities sector. 

Plus, its financials remain strong. In its third quarter, the company’s EPS increased to 95 cents from 85 cents thanks to its water utility segment. The water segment added 84 cents to company earnings, which is up from the 72 cents posted a year earlier. Revenue jumped 6.65% to $161.78 million, which beat estimates by $782,000.

Coca-Cola 

With a yield of 3.2%, Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) is another must-own Dividend King. Plus, it’s oversold and just paid out a dividend of $0.485 per share on December 16.

Even better, analysts are out in defense of the KO stock.

Piper Sandler, for example, just issued an overweight rating on the stock. The firm “highlighted that the beverage giant has strong brands, best-in-class execution, and significant emerging market exposure with attractive sustainable growth momentum. It was also noted that KO’s portfolio benefits from attractive global beverage category growth rates and sustainable share gains,”.

Analysts at TD Cowen also said the pullback in Coca-Cola was an overreaction to potential President Trump trade policies. “This creates an attractive buying opportunity in a stock with plenty of room to capitalize on per capita beverage consumption growth in international markets over the long term,” they added.

Deutsche Bank also upgraded the KO stock to a buy rating because business momentum is strong. The firm now has a price target of $70 from $68 a share.

Procter & Gamble 

With a yield of 2.5%, Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) is another one of the top Dividend Kings.

In November, it paid out its latest quarterly dividend of $1.0065 per share. “P&G has been paying a dividend for 134 consecutive years since its incorporation in 1890 and has increased its dividend for 68 consecutive years. This reinforces our commitment to return cash to shareowners, many of whom rely on the steady, reliable income earned with their investment in P&G,” as noted in a P&G press release.

With earnings, a decline in total sales overshadowed the company’s increased profits and higher organic sales. Total sales for the quarter slipped 0.6% to $21.74 billion, which was a miss of $240 million from Street expectations. Organic sales were up 2%, but did fall short of the 7% growth posted a year earlier. Adjusted profits came in at $1.93 a share, which was up about 5% year over year, and three cents better than expectations.

Plus, Street firms have been upgrading the PG stock.

Stifel, for example, raised its PG price target to $167 from $165. DA Davidson upgraded PG from a neutral rating to a buy rating with a price target of $209 from $160. Deutsche Bank also raised its price target on the PG stock to $192 from $181 with a buy rating.