As the market whips between the Facebook scandal and the earnings season that’s going to kickoff this month, dividend investors have made some notable changes to their watchlists as they have added a lot of consumer goods stocks into their portfolios over the last few weeks.
The trend continued this week as well, as Clorox again moved up a place on our Most Watched Stocks List to the 68th position. Two weeks back Clorox was at the 72nd position. During this time, Clorox has also outperformed the broader market on the stock price front. Rated quite high on the DARS rating system, this stock is going ex-dividend on the 24th of April with a payout of 96 cents per share, which is 14% higher than its previous payout of 84 cents per share. Consumer goods and most of the industries associated with it are always seen with an optimistic tone when there is market uncertainty, since their product lines are considered quite defensive in the face of recession.
Another sector that’s typically seen doing well during this time is the utilities sector, and that’s exactly what dividend investors were eyeing last week as two major utilities players moved up the list. Edison International moved up from the 100th position to the 98th position, while Southern Company moved up a place to the 18th position. Cheerios maker General Mills, which stumbled 10% after a weak 2018 outlook, has started creeping its way back onto investors’ watchlists as it now trades at an attractive valuation.
Our Most Watched Stocks List is a user-generated, interest-based ranking of dividend-paying stocks, giving you a real-time snapshot of buying interest in the market. Generated by our Premium members’ watchlists, it’s aggregated and ranked by the most watched criteria.
The list has been designed to help income investors navigate the top dividend stocks being tracked by one of the world’s most advanced investing communities.
