These days, investors have one thing on their minds: safety with a capital “S.” As volatility has exploded and risk has become commonplace, investors have shifted their portfolios away from growth stocks and into slowly moving/safer sectors. This has included a hefty dose of utilities. For our Best Dividend Stocks List pick in the sector, this movement in the market has been a boon.
Already, our pick has been a top dividend and star performer on our list, thanks to its huge operating network, stable base of assets and strong cash flows. In fact, those assets have allowed our pick to pay an increasing dividend for more than 30 years.
Our pick has become a master of using cash flows from government regulated assets – such as power generation facilities and interstate pipelines – to help fund unregulated ones. This has allowed our pick to see tremendous growth. Additional pipeline, processing capacity and gathering lines are allowing our pick to build out its vast system and boost cash flows further. Meanwhile, a transaction to simplify the operating structure of its liquid petroleum gas assets has boosted the firm’s bottom line as well. In the end, our “boring” utility pick is quickly becoming one of the largest players in the midstream energy space. The newfound size and scope will provide benefits for years to come and continue its streak of dividend growth.
All in all, the current market situation is leaning towards safety, and our utility pick has that in spades.
To summarize, here are five reasons why you should own this stock:
- Has paid common dividends for more than 130 consecutive quarters and increased its dividends for more than 30 years.
- Continues to see huge profit growth from its base of assets, with adjusted EPS growing 44% last quarter!
- Is an M&A king and has smartly used buyouts and mergers to build out a huge distribution network of additional regulated and unrelated assets.
- Total average annual shareholder return has exceeded 16% for the last two decades, beating both the S&P 500 and major utility indexes.
- Healthy payout ratio of 47% and growing yield of 2.61%.
Our Best Dividend Stocks List has 20 of the highest-rated stocks by our proprietary rating system. Go Premium to find out the entire list.
