As investors today contemplate the sharp declines in their portfolios amid this broad market downturn, more and more of them are turning to dividend stocks to provide them with a measure of security.
Also, keep in mind that these conditions do provide the opportunity to pick up some good dividend stocks at cheap valuations. If you’re looking to do that, the key is to make sure that the ones you buy have solid underlying businesses, and that they can be expected to sustain their payouts even during down markets and economic turmoil. Here are a couple of good options.
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1. JPMorgan Chase
When conditions are uncertain on Wall Street, there is typically a flight to quality to large, stable, sector-leading companies that have successfully navigated previous corrections and bear markets. That description fits JPMorgan Chase(JPM -0.09%) to a T.
JPMorgan Chase is the largest bank in the U.S. with about $3 trillion in assets under management, and it has consistently outperformed its peers over the past decade. Its focus on its “fortress” balance sheet keeps liquidity high and debt low, which allows it to navigate downturns and continue to support its dividend.
It has $1.7 trillion in liquidity sources and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, which means its assets are funded mostly by equity as opposed to debt.
“Our long-standing capital hierarchy remains the same — first and foremost, to invest in and grow our market-leading businesses; second, to pay a sustainable competitive dividend; and then, to return any remaining excess capital to shareholders through stock buybacks,” CEO Jamie Dimon said in the first-quarter earnings report released on April 13.
JPMorgan Chase has seen its valuation drop with its forward price-to-earnings ratio falling to its current level of 10.5 from 15 at the start of 2022, and its stock price is down 26.8% year to date. However, it raised its fourth-quarter 2021 payout by 11% to $1 per share, and it has maintained that for the two payouts since then. At the current share price, it offers a high yield of 3.4%, with a payout ratio of about 29% — which means 29% of earnings go to financing the dividend. That’s a very sustainable percentage and should allow JPMorgan Chase to continue to boost its distributions. This will be the 10th straight year that JPMorgan Chase has increased its annual dividend payout, and that streak will likely continue.
2. PNC Financial Services Group
The banking industry should benefit from rising interest rates, as long as inflation is brought back under control and the country doesn’t fall into a recession. Those are big “ifs” — but bull markets in the U.S. have historically lasted longer than bear markets, and over the long term, the stock market has averaged an annualized total return of about 10%.
The bank with perhaps the best dividend right now is PNC Financial Services Group(PNC -0.33%) — the sixth-largest bank in the U.S. In Q2, it raised its quarterly dividend by 20% to $1.50 per share. At its current share price, that gives it a yield of 3.35% — one of the highest among its peers. It has a payout ratio of roughly 37%, which is in a comfortable range where it has been for the past decade. A model of consistency, it has raised its payout annually for the past 12 years.
The stock price for PNC Financial is down 22% year to date, but it has a low valuation with a current forward price-to-earnings ratio of 11 — down from 15 at the start of 2022.
Rising interest rates should provide a nice revenue boost for PNC, and Wall Street analysts have a median 1-year price target of $210 on the stock, about 34% higher than its current price.
Like JPMorgan Chase, PNC has a fortress-like balance sheet with a super low debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35% and $56 billion in cash on hand. Both of these banks pay high yields and have good financials, great track records, and sustainable dividends.
CM Punk appeared on Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite while wearing an abortion rights t-shirt as he provided commentary for a match featuring “Hangman” Adam Page to further build to their World Heavyweight Title Match at Double Or Nothing next Sunday in Las Vegas.
This got mixed reactions from fans as some applauded Punk’s stance on abortion rights and others took it offensive as they saw a political stance on a wrestling program.
Punk previously gave his thoughts on the topic this past March when he stated that women should have the right to do whatever they want with their bodies.
Punk shared a screenshot of a direct message he got from one fan on Instagram where the fans said, “keep your politics out of wrestling.” Punk wrote over the screenshot, “I’ll keep politics out of wrestling as soon as you keep politics out of vaginas.”
During a recent PWTorch.com audio update, Wade Keller recapped the Sasha Banks and Naomi situation and added that he has heard that there are some people in the business who are expressing support for what they did last Monday.
“Naomi’s contract is coming due,” Keller said. “We don’t have much more details on Sasha and Naomi in terms of any reconciliation or any more details on their departure. I know some people and I’ve run into a lot of them who just instinctually want to blame Vince McMahon for everything. Other people, although fewer outside and inside WWE are not complimentary of Sasha and Naomi’s likelihood of handling this well, and are not surprised that [out] of anybody of prominence on the roster, that they’d be the ones who maybe handled things in a way that wasn’t ideal.
Keller made it clear that when he reports on things, he is not someone who picks a side between the wrestlers and management and his story is not biased towards any side. He added, “But I can say there are people who in that locker room – colleagues of theirs [including] active wrestlers, and otherwise, who are disappointed and not sympathetic to the way Sasha and Naomi handled this. And there are others who, yes, think this is a cool thing that they did. And they sort of wished that they had the guts to do something like that and take a stance. So I mentioned Naomi’s contract is coming due in WWE. And there had been some rumblings that maybe this was related to contract issues and not wanting to look like they were being sacrificed right before to take some leverage away or just spend some of their equity right before their contracts come due. We don’t have details on when her contract expires, just that that could have been a contributing factor in the frustration of Naomi and perhaps Sasha, that, we’re going to take away some of your leverage by having you do pretty high profile jobs in the midst of a tag team title reign that they were excited about.”
“And they felt like that wasn’t being repaid with being protected while they were tag team champions. And like I said, I’ve talked to enough people to get a sense [that] there’s not any sort of unanimity in their opinion, in the locker room of how they handle this. I think there’s some sympathy for certain details of why they walked out but not a lot of sympathy for walking out before a show. But when it gets right down to it, Sasha and Naomi could not have stayed and done that match without making things worse for WWE. If Naomi won the match and earned the title shot and you do that and then Naomi says I don’t want to go through with this, now WWE has more of a mess to clean up than simply announcing the six-pack challenge that WWE needs to rework on short notice…”
During SmackDown, WWE announced that Banks and Naomi have been indefinitely suspended and new Women’s Tag Team Champions will be crowned soon. Since walking out on Monday, Banks has been seen hanging out with Snoop Dogg’s son Calvin.
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit PWTorchVIP.com with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription. A PWTorch VIP subscription includes exclusive news in daily audio shows (without ads), more than 10,000 retro podcasts going back to 2004, the Pro Wrestling Torch newsletter library and more.
During a recent PWTorch.com audio update, Wade Keller discussed Stephanie McMahon’s announcement to step away from WWE. McMahon stated that she was stepping away to focus on family but Keller indicated that there are also other reasons why she’s taking a break. He also noted how important she’s been for WWE because she helped soften the hard edge that the company had in the mid 2000’s. Stephanie became the person who represented the brand in business presentations, especially after the Chris Benoit murder-suicide.
Keller said, “The indications that I’ve gotten is this is largely her just stepping away. She has worked for WWE for over 20 years, Shane McMahon has been in and out. She’s the child of Vince McMahon, who has been most embedded in this company. Most recently, the Chief Brand Officer. ”
He continued, “I have been told not to expect the reasons that Stephanie is stepping away, to come out. But the implication is, there are reasons. So this isn’t going to be a public scandal. But it’s something. That’s about as much as I think I can say right now, based on the indications I’ve gotten from talking to people who know or know Stephanie and Hunter or know people who know them. And yeah, [they] are giving me indications of things.”
Keller then speculated that perhaps maybe what went down with Shane McMahon earlier this year could have affected Stephanie or perhaps how things were handled backstage with Triple H’s NXT while he dealt with health issues.
“Whatever is going on, sounds like it’s just very private,” Keller said. “And I have not been given any indications of what that is. And so it’s a private and personal matter, it could have to do with Vince McMahon or Shane McMahon, or Triple H. It also could have to do with something completely different within the family or something completely different going on. I just can say that I’m pretty sure it will not get out, at least not imminently. And it’s probably not going to be something that’s like making headlines or anything like that…”
Keller added that whatever is going on may not end up being scandalous but it’s considered a big deal for her to step away from WWE because she’s been so ingrained with the company for so many years.
This may not mean anything at all, but David Bixenspan reported this week that Stephanie McMahon removed her WWE work history from her LinkedIn account, and only her education and volunteer work history is shown.
From the “could mean nothing, could mean something” file: Though she’s left up the WWE references in her bio and her background image, Stephanie McMahon’s LinkedIn page no longer includes her WWE work history, just her education history and volunteer work history. pic.twitter.com/Y5cpCNNaBi
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit PWTorchVIP.com with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription. A PWTorch VIP subscription includes exclusive news in daily audio shows (without ads), more than 10,000 retro podcasts going back to 2004, the Pro Wrestling Torch newsletter library and more.
