10 Buyable DiviDogs From Barron’s Top 100 Sustainable List

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 in 2024 report.”

– Barron’s editors.

Any collection of stocks is more clearly understood when subjected to yield-based (dogcatcher) analysis. These 100 publicly traded ESG dogs are perfect for the dogcatcher process. Here is the March 11 data, focused on 76 dividend payers. The full list of 100 is posted in the Afterword at the tail of this article.

Happily, ten of the 76 dividend-paying Sustainable companies live up to the Dogcatcher ideal of paying annual dividends from a $1K investment, exceeding their single share prices. As of 3/11/24, they are NextEra Energy Partners (NEP), Hasbro Inc (HAS), Avangrid Inc (AGR), Regions Financial Corp (RF), Citizens Financial Group Inc (CFG), The Kraft Heinz Co (KHC), Franklin Resources Inc (BEN), Exelon Corp (EXC), The Interpublic Group (IPG) and HP Inc (HPQ). Many first-time investors regard this condition as a buy signal or, at least, a look-closer invitation.

Actionable Conclusions (1-10): Analysts Estimated 10.36% To 29.86% Net Gains For Ten Top ESG Companies To March 2025

Seven of ten top 2022 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 70% 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 March 11, 2025 were:

Barrons Top Ten Sustainable Dogs By Net Gains

NextEra Energy Partners LP was projected to net $298.62, based on the median of target estimates from 16 analysts, plus dividends, less broker fees. The Beta number showed this estimate subject to risk/volatility 99% greater than the market as a whole.

The Kraft Heinz Co. was projected to net $175.50, based on dividends, plus the median of target price estimates from 22 analysts, less broker fees. The Beta number showed this estimate subject to risk/volatility 67% greater than the market as a whole.

Hasbro Inc was projected to net $168.93, based on the median of target price estimates from 15 analysts, plus annual dividend, less broker fees. The Beta number showed this estimate subject to risk/volatility 73% greater than the market as a whole.

Best Buy Co Inc (BBY) was projected to net $144.638 based on dividends, plus the median of target estimates from 23 brokers, less transaction fees. The Beta number showed this estimate subject to risk/volatility 27% less than the market as a whole.

Citizens Financial Group Inc was projected to net $124.31, based on dividends, plus the median of target price estimates from 18 analysts, less broker fees. The Beta number showed this estimate subject to risk/volatility 38% more than the market as a whole.

Eversource Energy (ES) was projected to net $120.36, from dividends, plus the median of target price estimates from 16 analysts, less broker fees. The Beta number showed this estimate subject to risk/volatility 42% less than the market as a whole.

Met Life Inc (MET) was projected to net $117.83, based on dividends, plus the median of the target price estimates from 14 analysts, less broker fees. The Beta number showed this estimate subject to risk/volatility 4% greater than the market as a whole.

Regions Financial Corp was projected to net $107.28, based on dividends, plus the median of target price estimates from 24 analysts, less broker fees. The Beta number showed this estimate subject to risk/volatility 20% over the market as a whole.

Air Products & Chemicals Inc (APD) was projected to net $105.34, based on the median of target prices from 23 analysts, plus annual dividends, less broker fees. The Beta number showed this estimate subject to risk/volatility 19% under the market as a whole.

The Interpublic Group was projected to net $103.56 based on a median of target price estimates from 11 analysts, plus dividends, less broker fees. The Beta number showed this estimate subject to risk/volatility 13% greater than the market as a whole.

The average net gain in dividend and price was estimated at 14.66% on $10k invested as $1k in each of these ten stocks. These gain estimates were subject to average risk/volatility equal to 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 March Target Gains

50 Barron’s ESG Dogs Reveal March Yields

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

Top yield ten March 2024 Barron’s ESG stocks represented four of eleven Morningstar sectors.

The first of three utilities representatives placed first, NewEra Energy Partners LP [1]. The other two placed third and seventh, Avangrid Inc [3], and Eversource Energy [7].

Two consumer cyclical representatives placed second, and fourth: Hasbro Inc [2], and Best Buy Co Inc [4].

Then four financial services stocks occupied the fifth, sixth, eighth and tenth places: Regions Financial Corp [5], Citizens Financial Group Inc [6], Prudential Financial Inc (PRU) [8], and Franklin Resources Inc [10].

Then the lone consumer defensive stock occupied ninth place, The Kraft Heinz Co [9], to complete the top ten March 2024 Barron’s ESG stocks by yield.

Actionable Conclusions: (21-30) Top Ten Barron’s ESG Dividend Dogs Showed 8.61%-20.08% Upsides While (31) Four Lowly Down-siders Slumped -2.08%-7.28% in March

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 20.06% Advantage For The 5 Highest Yield, Lowest Priced Of Ten 2022 Barron’s ESG Dividend Stocks Come March 2025

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

As noted above, top ten dividend Barron’s ESG dogs screened 3/11/24 showing the highest dividend yields represented four 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 14.17% Vs. (33) 11.8% Net Gains by All Ten Come March 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 20.06% more gain than $5,000 invested as $.5K in all ten. The third lowest-priced selection, NextEra Energy, was projected to deliver the best net gain of 29.86%

The five lowest-priced top-yield Barron’s ESG dividend dogs as of March 11 were: Regions Financial; Franklin Resources; NextEra Energy; Citizens Financial Group; Kraft Heinz, with prices ranging from $19.57 to $34.98.

Five higher-priced Barron’s ESG dividend dogs as of March 11 were: Avangrid; Hasbro; Eversource; Best Buy; Prudential, whose prices ranged from $35.51 to $111.52.

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 three stocks primed to buy at the start of the article, here is a repeat of the list at the end.

Happily, ten of the 76 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 3/11/24, they are: NextEra Energy, Hasbro, Avangrid, Regions Financial, Citizens Financial, Kraft Heinz, Franklin Resources, Exelon, Interpublic Group, and HP. Many first-time investors regard this condition as a buy signal or, at least, a look-closer invitation.

Current 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

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.