Buy 9 Sustainable Dividend Dogs Of Barron’s July Top 100

Foreword

This article is based on 100 top sustainable companies based on Calvert Research and Management’s annual review of more than 230 Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) performance indicators, such as workplace diversity, data security, and greenhouse-gas emissions, as reported in the February 26, 2024 edition of Barron’s weekly.

How Barron’s determined their list

“To build Barron’s seventh annual ranking of the most sustainable companies, Calvert Research and Management started with the 1,000 largest publicly traded companies by market value, then ranked each by how it performed for five key constituencies: shareholders, employees, customers, community, and the planet.

Specifically, Calvert looked at more than 230 ESG performance indicators, such as workplace diversity, data security, and greenhouse-gas emissions.

Based on these indicators, Calvert assigned a score of zero to 100 in each stakeholder category. Then it created a weighted average of the categories for each company, based on how financially material each category was for its industry peer group.

To make the list, a company had to be rated above the bottom quarter in each of the material stakeholder categories. If it performed poorly in any key category that was financially material, it was disqualified.

The top 100, ranked by sustainability, appear in the table at the bottom. Those were the best performers of 2023 reported in this 2024 report.”

– Barron’s editors

Any collection of stocks is more clearly understood when subjected to yield-based (dogcatcher) analysis. These 100 publicly traded Most Sustainable dogs are perfect for the dogcatcher process. Their July 11 data focused on 77 dividend payers. The full list of 100 is posted in the Afterword at the tail of this article.

Happily, 9 of the 77 dividend-paying Sustainable companies live up to the Dogcatcher ideal of showing annual dividends from a $1K investment, exceeding their single share prices. As of 7/11/24, they are NextEra Energy Partners (NEP), Franklin Resources (BEN), Kraft Heinz (KHC), Avangrid (AGR), Regions Financial (RF), Interpublic Group (IPG), Citizens Financial Group (CFG), Exelon (EXC), and Hormel Foods (HRL). Many first-time investors regard this condition as a buy signal or, at least, an invitation to look-closer.

Actionable Conclusions (1-10): Analysts Estimated 15.69% To 41.33% Net Gains For Ten Top ESG Companies To July 2025

Five of ten top 2024 ESG company stocks by yield were among the top ten gainers for the coming year based on analyst 1-year target prices. (They are tinted gray in the chart below). Thus, the yield-based forecast for these ESG top dogs was graded by Wall St. Wizards as 50% accurate.

Estimated dividends from $1000 invested in each of the highest-yielding stocks plus their aggregated one-year analyst median target prices, as reported by YCharts, supplied the data points. Note: target prices from less than two analysts were not counted. Thus, ten probable profit-generating trades projected to July 11, 2025 were:

Barron’s Top Ten Sustainable July Dogs By Net Gains

The Estee Lauder Companies (EL) was projected to net $413.34, based on the median of target estimates from 27 analysts, plus dividends, less broker fees. The Beta number showed this estimate subject to risk/volatility 1% under the market as a whole.

Kraft Heinz was projected to net $272.71, based on dividends, plus the median of target price estimates from 20 analysts, less broker fees. The Beta number showed this estimate subject to risk/volatility 47% less than the market as a whole.

Hasbro (HAS) was projected to net $265.42, from dividends, plus the median of target price estimates from 13 analysts, less broker fees. The Beta number showed this estimate subject to risk/volatility 38% less than the market as a whole.

Interpublic Group was projected to net $251.04 based on a median of target price estimates from 12 analysts, plus dividends, less broker fees. The Beta number showed this estimate subject to risk/volatility 12% greater than the market as a whole.

NextEra Energy Partners was projected to net $229.34, based on the median of target prices from 15 analysts, plus annual dividends, less broker fees. The Beta number showed this estimate subject to risk/volatility 3% over the market as a whole.

Mondelez International (MDLZ) was projected to net $227.68, based on the median of target price estimates from 23 analysts, plus annual dividend, less broker fees. The Beta number showed this estimate subject to risk/volatility 47% less than the market as a whole.

Kroger (KR) was projected to net $202.40, based on dividends, plus the median of target price estimates from 19 analysts, less broker fees. The Beta number showed this estimate subject to risk/volatility 55% under the market as a whole.

Omnicom Group (OMC) was projected to net $197.03, based on dividends, plus the median of target price estimates from 11 analysts, less broker fees. The Beta number showed this estimate subject to risk/volatility 5% less than the market as a whole.

Eversource Energy (ES) was projected to net $174.56 based on dividends, plus the median of target estimates from 18 brokers, less transaction fees. The Beta number showed this estimate subject to risk/volatility 40% less than the market as a whole.

Target (TGT) was projected to net 156.89, based on dividends, plus the median of the target price estimates from 31 analysts, less broker fees. The Beta number showed this estimate subject to risk/volatility 20% greater than the market as a whole.

The average net gain in dividend and price was estimated at 23.9% on $10k invested as $1k in each of these ten stocks. These gain estimates were subject to average risk/volatility 20% under the market as a whole.

The Dividend Dogs Rule

Stocks earned the “dog” moniker by exhibiting three traits: (1) paying reliable, repeating dividends, (2) their prices fell to where (3) yield (dividend/price) grew higher than their peers. Thus, the highest yielding stocks in any collection became known as “dogs.” More precisely, these are, in fact, best called, “underdogs”.

50 Barron’s ESG Dogs Showed July Target Gains

50 Barron’s ESG Dogs Reveal July Yields

Actionable Conclusions (11-20): 10 Top Barron’s ESG Dogs By Yield For July

Top yield ten July 2024 Barron’s ESG stocks represented five of eleven Morningstar sectors.

The first of three utilities representatives placed first, NextEra Energy Partners [1]. The other two placed fourth and fifth, Avangrid [4], and Eversource Energy [5].

Then three financial services stocks occupied the second, seventh, and ninth places: Franklin Resources [2], Regions Financial [7], and Citizens Financial Group [9].

Then the lone consumer defensive (staple) stock occupied third place, Kraft Heinz [3].

Two consumer cyclical (discretionary) representatives placed sixth, and tenth, Hasbro [7], and Best Buy (BBY) [10].

Finally, a single communication services representative took the eighth place, The Interpublic Group of Companies [8] to complete the top ten July 2024-25 list of Barron’s ESG stocks by yield.

Actionable Conclusions: (21-30) Top Ten Barron’s ESG Dividend Dogs Showed 14.37%-40.73% Upsides While (31) Three Lowly Downsiders Sagged -3.05% to -7.63% in July

To quantify top dog rankings, analyst median price target estimates provided a “market sentiment” gauge of upside potential. Added to the simple high-yield metrics, analyst median target price estimates became another tool to dig out bargains.

Analysts Forecast A 20.11% Advantage For The 5 Highest Yield, Lowest Priced Of Ten 2024 Barron’s ESG Dividend Stocks Come July 2025

Yield (dividend / price) results provided by YCharts did the ranking for these ten dividend July Barron’s ESG stocks.

As noted above, top ten dividend Barron’s ESG dogs screened 7/11/24 showing the highest dividend yields represented five of eleven in the Morningstar sector scheme.

Actionable Conclusions: Analysts Predicted 5 Lowest-Priced Of The Top Ten Highest-Yield Barron’s ESG Dividend Dogs (32) Delivering 18.54% Vs. (33) 15.43% Net Gains by All Ten Come July 2025

$5000 invested as $1k in each of the five lowest-priced stocks in the top ten dividend Barron’s ESG kennel by yield were predicted by analyst 1-year targets to deliver 20.11% more gain than $5,000 invested as $.5K in all ten. The fifth lowest-priced selection, Kraft Heinz, was projected to deliver the best net gain of 27.27%

The five lowest-priced top-yield Barron’s ESG dividend dogs as of July 11 were: Regions Financial, Franklin Resources, NextEra Energy, The Interpublic Group of Companies, Kraft Heinz, with prices ranging from $20.71 to $32.18.

Five higher-priced Barron’s ESG dividend dogs as of July 11 were: Avangrid, Citizens Financial Group, Hasbro, Eversource, Best Buy, whose prices ranged from $35.40 to $86.01.

The distinction between five low-priced dividend dogs and the general field of ten reflected Michael B. O’Higgins’ “basic method” for beating the Dow. The scale of projected gains based on analyst targets added a unique element of “market sentiment” gauging upside potential. It provided a here-and-now equivalent of waiting a year to find out what might happen in the market. Caution is advised, since analysts are historically only 20% to 90% accurate on the direction of change and just 0% to 15% accurate on the degree of change.

The net gain/loss estimates above did not factor in any foreign or domestic tax problems resulting from distributions. Consult your tax advisor regarding the source and consequences of “dividends” from any investment.

Afterword

If somehow you missed the suggestion of the stocks primed to buy at the start of the article, here is a repeat of the list at the end.

Happily, 9 of the 77 dividend-paying ESG companies live up to my Dogcatcher ideal of paying annual dividends from a $1K investment, exceeding their single share prices. As of 7/11/24, they are: NextEra Energy, Franklin Resources, Kraft Heinz, Avangrid, Regions Financial, Interpublic Group, Citizens Financial, Exelon, and Hormel. Many first-time investors regard this condition as a buy signal or, at least, an invitation to look-closer.

Recent vs Fair-Price Charts

Seven of the top-ten Barron’s ESG shares are priced less than the annual dividends paid out from a $1K investment. Therefore, the dollar and percentage differences between current and fair prices are detailed in the top chart. The middle chart compares those seven fair priced with all ten at current prices, and the fair pricing of all ten top dogs (conforming to the dogcatcher ideal) is shown in the bottom chart.

Barron’s 100 Most Sustainable Companies As Ranked For 2024-25

Stocks listed above were suggested only as possible reference points for your Barron’s ESG stock purchase or sale research process. These were not recommendations.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational and educational purposes only and should not be construed to constitute investment advice. Nothing contained herein shall constitute a solicitation, recommendation or endorsement to buy or sell any security. Prices and returns on equities in this article except as noted are listed without consideration of fees, commissions, taxes, penalties, or interest payable due to purchasing, holding, or selling same.

Graphs and charts were compiled by Rydlun & Co., LLC from data derived from www.indexarb.com; YCharts.com; finance.yahoo.com; analyst mean target price by YCharts. Dog art: Open source dog art from dividenddogcatcher.com.

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