Are These The Best Dividend Stocks To Invest In Ahead Of October 2021?
Even with the broader stock market looking to make a comeback following this week’s sell-offs, dividend stocks remain viable plays. For the most part, the recent lows in the market would put this group of stocks in the spotlight nonetheless. This would especially be the case for newer investors who are looking to diversify their portfolios. Overall, it is not hard to understand the allure of dividend stocks now. This is mostly thanks to the factor of dividend payouts providing investors with more consistent returns on their investments.
Notably, there is no shortage of dividend stocks for investors to choose from in the stock market today. This would be the case as this section of the market stretches across numerous industries globally now. For starters, conventional consumer staples names like Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) and PepsiCo (NASDAQ: PEP) have good track records paying dividends over decades. Elsewhere, even major names in the tech space like Accenture (NYSE: ACN) are upping their dividend game. Namely, the company raised its dividend and share buyback initiatives after reporting solid figures in its fourth-quarter earnings. Given all of this, could one of these top dividend stocks be good buys now?
5 Top Dividend Stocks To Buy [Or Sell] Right Now
- General Mills Inc. (NYSE: GIS)
- Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD)
- FedEx Corporation (NYSE: FDX)
- Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC)
- Automatic Data Processing Inc. (NASDAQ: ADP)
General Mills Inc.
First up, we have General Mills, a multinational manufacturer, and marketer of branded consumer foods sold through retail stores. It is the face behind many well-known brands like Häagen-Dazs, Cheerios, Cocoa Puffs, and Trix among others. Leveraging on its stronger execution and support behind brand building, the company has improved its competitiveness in the North American retail landscape in the last three years. The company’s latest dividend was declared on August 7, 2021, at $0.51 a share. The company has just reported its first-quarter financials for fiscal 2022 last week.
Firstly, net sales have increased by 4% to $4.5 billion for the quarter. Secondly, it posted diluted earnings per share of $1.02. The company also says that it continues to execute its Accelerate strategy to drive sustainable and profitable growth for the long term. In detail, the strategy will focus on four pillars to create competitive advantages and win. This would include; boldly building brands, relentlessly innovating, unleashing scale, and being a force for good. General Mills is also prioritizing its core markets, global platforms, and local gem brands that have the best prospect for profitable growth. Given this piece of news, will you consider watching GIS stock this week?
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The Home Depot
Next on this list of dividend stocks, we have Home Depot, one of the largest home improvement retailers in the world. In essence, it operates many big-box format stores across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. It has over 2,000 stores in North America alone, with approximately 500,000 associates. Its typical store averages 105,000 square feet of indoor retail space. On top of that, it also has a robust e-commerce platform that offers more than 1 million products for both DIY customers and professional contractors. It declared a second-quarter dividend of $1.65 per share last month.
The company’s One Home Depot strategy continues to provide best-in-class customer service through a seamless, interconnected shopping experience for its customers. It has continuously improved both its online and in-store experience and provides enhanced training for its associates. This is a result of the company committing approximately $11 billion over a multi-year period to invest across all aspects of its business. You could say that this strategy has helped the company maneuver through the pandemic better than its peers and would continue to serve Home Depot well for the years to come. For this reason, is HD stock worth adding to your portfolio?
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FedEx Corporation
FedEx Corporation is a multinational conglomerate holding company that focuses on transportation, e-commerce, and business services. With annual revenue of $84 billion, the company offers integrated business solutions through operating companies competing collectively.
Last week, the company announced that it will increase its shipping rates for FedEx Express, FedEx Ground, and FedEx Freight Services. In detail, the company says that it will increase its shipping rates by an average of 5.9% for its Ground, Home Delivery, and Express services. The company says that this will enable the company to invest in service enhancement, fleet maintenance, and technology innovations while also reflecting incremental costs associated with a challenging operating environment. It also recently reported its first-quarter financials with a revenue of $22 billion and a net income of $1.11 billion. All things considered, will you buy FDX stock?
Bank of America Corporation
Next up, we will be taking a look at the Bank of America Corporation, or BAC for short. As most would know, BAC is a titan in the financial services industry today. Through its comprehensive portfolio of investment banking and financial solutions, BAC caters to corporations of all sizes globally. In the U.S. alone, the company reportedly serves 66 million consumers and small business clients. Additionally, it also boasts a user base of over 40 million active customers on its digital banking platform.
Now, given the resurgence of interest in cyclical stocks, the company’s shares could be worth watching. If anything, BAC is not sitting idly by amidst all of this stock market action as well. Earlier this week, the company announced a significant upgrade to its Intelligent Receivables (IR) payments solution. In detail, IR is a payments management service that is powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning. Thanks to this update, it now allows clients to process payments and remittance data from local payment instruments in the Chinese, Korean, and Thai languages on top of English. As such, would BAC stock be worth investing in for you now?
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Automatic Data Processing Inc.
Following that, Automatic Data Processing (ADP) is a New Jersey-based tech firm that provides human resources (HR) management software services. This Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) company provides organizations with cutting-edge HR solutions. The likes of which span talent, time management, benefits, and payroll-related offerings. As businesses look to refine their workforce management amidst the current pandemic, ADP’s services would be in demand. Accordingly, ADP stock has enjoyed gains of over 80% since its pandemic era low.
On top of that, ADP appears to be kicking into high gear on the operational front as well. Just this week, the company revealed a first-of-its-kind HR optimization solution. In detail, ADP now offers “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” (DEI) benchmarks to help companies access these factors in their workforces. Also, according to ADP chief data officer, Jack Berkowitz, the company’s DEI metrics provide insights alongside guided action and strategic dashboards. Ideally, all of this would serve to help organizations better optimize their workforce by considering these emerging HR trends. With all this in mind, could ADP stock make a spot on your watchlist?
