Buy 9 Sustainable Dividend Dogs Of Barron’s June 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. Here is their June 11 data, which 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 6/11/24, they are NextEra Energy Partners (NEP), Franklin Resources Inc (BEN), Regions Financial Corp (RF), Avangrid Inc (AGR), Citizens Financial Group Inc (CFG), The Kraft Heinz Co (KHC), The Interpublic Group (IPG), Exelon Corp (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 18.35% To 25.77% Net Gains For Ten Top ESG Companies To June 2025

Six 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 60% 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 June 11, 2025, were:

Barrons Top Ten Sustainable Dogs By Net Gains

Hasbro Inc (HAS) was projected to net $257.66, 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 35% less than the market as a whole.

The Kraft Heinz Co was projected to net $231.07, based on dividends, plus the median of target price estimates from 21 analysts, less broker fees. The Beta number showed this estimate subject to risk/volatility 43% less than the market as a whole.

Regions Financial Corp was projected to net $220.27, based on the median of target estimates from 24 analysts, plus dividends, less broker fees. The Beta number showed this estimate subject to risk/volatility 19% over the market as a whole.

MetLife Inc (MET) was projected to net $204.77, based on the median of target prices from 13 analysts, plus annual dividends, less broker fees. The Beta number showed this estimate subject to risk/volatility 7% over the market as a whole.

Target Corp (TGT) was projected to net $203.75, based on dividends, plus the median of the target price estimates from 30 analysts, less broker fees. The Beta number showed this estimate subject to risk/volatility 21% greater than the market as a whole.

Cisco Systems Inc (CSCO) was projected to net $203.55, 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 14% under the market as a whole.

The Interpublic Group was projected to net $202.60 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 13% greater than the market as a whole.

Mondelez International Inc (MDLZ) was projected to net $200.82, based on the median of target price estimates from 24 analysts, plus annual dividend, less broker fees. The Beta number showed this estimate subject to risk/volatility 46% less than the market as a whole.

Eversource Energy was projected to net $189.34 based on dividends, plus the median of target estimates from 17 brokers, less transaction fees. The Beta number showed this estimate subject to risk/volatility 40% less than the market as a whole.

Citizens Financial Group Inc was projected to net $183.46, 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 35% more than the market as a whole.

The average net gain in dividend and price was estimated at 20.97% on $10k invested as $1k in each of these ten stocks. These gain estimates were subject to average risk/volatility 8% 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 June Target Gains

50 Barron’s ESG Dogs Reveal June Yields

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

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

The first of three utilities representatives placed first, NextEra Energy Partners LP [1]. The other two placed fourth and sixth, Avangrid Inc [4], and Eversource Energy [6].

Then four financial services stocks occupied the second, third, fifth, and ninth places: Franklin Resources Inc [2], Regions Financial Corp [3], Citizens Financial Group Inc [5], and Prudential Financial Inc (PRU) [9].

One consumer cyclical (discretionary) representative placed seventh, Hasbro Inc [7].

Then the lone consumer defensive (staple) stock occupied ninth place, The Kraft Heinz Co [9].

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

Actionable Conclusions: (21-30) Top Ten Barron’s ESG Dividend Dogs Showed 15.4%-22.97% Upsides While (31) Three Lowly Downsiders Slumped -0.43%-8.93% in June

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 16.9% Advantage For The 5 Highest Yield, Lowest Priced Of Ten 2024 Barron’s ESG Dividend Stocks Come June 2025

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

As noted above, the top ten dividend Barron’s ESG dogs screened 6/11/24 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 20.02% Vs. (33) 17.12% Net Gains by All Ten Come June 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 16.9% more gain than $5,000 invested as $.5K in all ten. The eighth lowest-priced selection, Hasbro Inc, was projected to deliver the best net gain of 25.77%

The five lowest-priced top-yield Barron’s ESG dividend dogs as of June 11 were: Regions Financial; Franklin Resources; The Interpublic Group of Companies; NextEra Energy; Kraft Heinz, with prices ranging from $18.19 to $33.65.

Five higher-priced Barron’s ESG dividend dogs as of June11 were: Citizens Financial Group; Avangrid; Hasbro; Eversource; Prudential, whose prices ranged from $33.97 to $114.30.

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 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 5/9/24, they are: NextEra Energy, Franklin Resources, Regions Financial, Avangrid, Citizens Financial, Kraft Heinz, Interpublic Group, 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.