When it comes to protection, you can’t get any better than insurance stocks – and our latest Best Dividend Protection Stocks Model Portfolio pick is a prime example of just how that protection in a portfolio plays out. Featuring over 15+ years’ worth of dividend increases and a 2.3% yield, our pick has been providing investors with income stability for decades. Investors can take advantage of that dividend when it goes ex-dividend on Thursday, September 8, with a regular payout of $0.93/share.
Our pick is one of the largest underwriters of both property and casualty (P&C) insurance in the U.S. Businesses and consumers turn to our pick to help protect a variety of needs. Its huge size and scope provide our pick with an ample float from which to boost profits further, while new sources and complexities of underwriting have boosted its margins.
Aside from new forays into more complex insurance lines, our pick has continued to use M&A to add bolt-on businesses both in the United Kingdom and here at home. Additionally, rising rates provide an extra boost to its investment portfolio of bonds and other cash-like assets, providing an inflation-protected base to its earnings.
All in all, our pick is a stable stock that conservative investors should take a look at.
In order to make room for our insurance pick, we’ve been forced to remove a packaging stock from the portfolio.
You can check out the Best Dividend Protection Stocks Model Portfolio to explore all the stocks.
