Top Ethical Companies and ESG Dividend Stocks

Ethical & Sustainable Investing News to Profit By!

Transcript & Links, Episode 125, March 8, 2024

Hello, Ron Robins here. So, welcome to this podcast episode 125 titled “Top Ethical Companies and ESG Dividend Stocks.” It’s presented by Investing for the Soul. Investingforthesoul.com is your site for vital global ethical and sustainable investing mentoring, news, commentary, information, and resources.

Now, remember that you can find a full transcript, and links to content – including stock symbols and bonus material – on this episode’s podcast page located at investingforthesoul.com/podcasts.

Also, a reminder. I do not evaluate any of the stocks or funds mentioned in these podcasts, nor do I receive any compensation from anyone covered in these podcasts. Furthermore, I will reveal to you any personal investments I have in the investments mentioned herein.

Additionally, quotes about individual companies are brief. Please go to this podcast's webpage for links to the actual articles for more company and stock information. Also, some companies might be covered more than once and there are also 5 article links below that time didn’t allow me to review them here.

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1. World’s Most Ethical Companies in 2024

The first article for this episode is another great company ranking I’ve been following for many years. A press release titled World’s Most Ethical Companies in 2024 best describes this ranking. It was found on finance.yahoo.com. Here are some quotes from it.

“Ethisphere, a global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices, today announced the 136 companies that have earned the coveted designation of the World’s Most Ethical Companies in 2024. This year’s honorees span 20 countries and 44 industries.

2024 marks the 18th annual World’s Most Ethical Companies recognition. As in previous years, honorees have demonstrated a commitment to ethical business practices through robust programs that positively impact employees, communities, and broader stakeholders, as well as contributing to sustainable, long-term business growth.

The full list of the 2024 World’s Most Ethical Companies can be found on Ethisphere’s website.

There are also six companies—Aflac (AFL), Ecolab (ECL), International Paper (IP), Kao Corporation (KAO0.MU), Milliken & Company (Private), and PepsiCo (PEP)—that have been recognized 18 times, every year since the inception of the World’s Most Ethical Companies® in 2007…

The Ethics Premium: Integrity Outperforms

Ethisphere’s Five Year Ethics Premium for 2024 is 12.3% This represents the margin by which publicly traded companies recognized in this year’s World’s Most Ethical Companies outperformed a comparable index of global companies over a five-year period from January 2019 to January 2024…

Methodology

The World's Most Ethical Companies assessment is grounded in Ethisphere's proprietary Ethics Quotient®, an extensive questionnaire that requires companies to provide over 240 different proof points on their culture of ethics; environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices; ethics and compliance program; diversity, equity, & inclusion efforts; and initiatives that support a strong value chain. That data undergoes further qualitative analysis by our panel of experts who spend thousands of hours vetting and evaluating each year's group of applicants. This process serves as an operating framework to capture and codify truly best-in-class practices from organizations across industries and from around the world…”

End quotes.

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2. 13 Best Environmental Dividend Stocks To Invest In According To Analysts

The next two articles are by Vardah Gill who does a terrific job of identifying the top ESG dividend-paying stocks from two perspectives. This first article focuses on dividends from stocks that also have at least a 15% stock price gain potential according to analysts. It’s titled 13 Best Environmental Dividend Stocks To Invest In According To Analysts and found on finance.yahoo.com.

Here are some quotes from this first article by Ms. Gill, starting with how she conducted her research.

“We scanned the holdings of Vanguard ESG U.S. Stock ETF (ESGV), which is a market capitalization-weighted index composed of large-, mid-, and small-cap stocks of companies located in the United States that are screened for certain environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) criteria by the index provider, which is independent of Vanguard. From the index, we picked 13 stocks that pay dividends and have a projected upside potential of over 15% based on analyst price targets. The stocks are ranked according to their upside potential, as of February 23. Note: the quoted upside potentials and dividend yields are as of February 23.

13. S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Upside Potential: 15.2%

S&P Global Inc. is a leading provider of financial market intelligence, including credit ratings, indices, data, and analytics…

(It) currently offers a quarterly dividend of $0.91 per share… The stock's dividend yield: 0.83%.

12. Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Upside Potential: 15.4%

An American biotech and pharmaceutical company…

The company offers a quarterly dividend of $0.42 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.05%.

11. Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. (NYSE:MAA)

Upside Potential: 15.9%

Mid-America Apartment Communities is a real estate investment trust company that focuses on the acquisition, development, redevelopment, and management of multifamily apartment communities…

The stock has a dividend yield of 4.65%.

10. Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Upside Potential: 16.4%

Morgan Stanley is a global financial services firm that provides a wide range of related services to its consumers…

Morgan Stanley… currently offers a quarterly dividend of $0.85 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.93%.

9. Becton, Dickinson and Company (NYSE:BDX)

Upside Potential: 16.5%

Becton, Dickinson and Company is a global medical technology company that specializes in the development, manufacturing, and sale of medical devices, instrument systems, and reagents…

The stock's dividend yield… came in at 1.54%.

8. Realty Income Corporation (NYSE:O)

Upside Potential: 16.69%

It currently pays a monthly dividend of $0.2565 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.81%.

7. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Upside Potential: 16.8%

Microsoft Corporation… pays a quarterly dividend of $0.75 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.73%.

6. Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM)

Upside Potential: 17.04%

The global food processing and commodities trading company… currently pays a quarterly dividend of $0.50 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.74%.

5. NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

Upside Potential: 17.60%

NIKE is a multinational corporation that designs, develops, markets, and sells athletic footwear, apparel, equipment, accessories, and services worldwide… currently pays a quarterly dividend of $0.37 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.40%.

4. Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD)

Upside Potential: 18.16%

Air Products and Chemicals is an American gases company that specializes in producing and distributing atmospheric gases, process gases, and specialty gases… the stock has a dividend yield of 3.04%.

3. Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB)

Upside Potential: 22.08%

Albemarle Corporation is a global specialty chemicals company that develops, manufactures, and markets a wide range of chemicals and chemical-based products… The stock’s dividend yield: 1.33%.

2. AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Upside Potential: 22.3%

AT&T is an American multinational telecommunications conglomerate… It currently pays a quarterly dividend of $0.2775 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.61%.

1. American Tower Corporation (NYSE:AMT)

Upside Potential: 26.6%

An American real estate investment trust company, American Tower Corporation tops our list of the best environmental dividend stocks… The company… currently pays a quarterly dividend of $1.70 per share… the stock offers a dividend yield of 3.58%.”

End quotes.

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3. 12 Best ESG Dividend Stocks to Buy According to Hedge Funds

This second article by Ms. Gill is titled 12 Best ESG Dividend Stocks to Buy According to Hedge Funds. The companies – though also derived from the Vanguard U.S. Stock ETF – are ranked by hedge fund ownership. The only duplicate company in the two lists is Microsoft.

So, here’s Ms. Gill’s description of her methodology and edited brief quotes about the selected companies.

“We scanned the holdings of Vanguard ESG U.S. Stock ETF (ESGV) which is a market capitalization-weighted index composed of large-, mid-, and small-cap stocks of companies located in the US that are screened for certain environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) criteria by the index provider, which is independent of Vanguard. From the index, we picked 12 stocks that pay dividends and have garnered the most attention from hedge fund investors by the conclusion of Q4 2023, using data from Insider Monkey’s database. The stocks are ranked in ascending order of the number of hedge funds having stakes in them. Hedge funds’ top 10 consensus stock picks outperformed the S&P 500 Index by more than 140 percentage points over the last 10 years (see the details here). Note: quoted dividend yields are as of February 28.

12. The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 71

The Procter & Gamble Company is an Ohio-based multinational consumer goods company…

(It) currently offers a quarterly dividend of $0.9407 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.36%.

11. AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Hedge Fund Holders: 76

The global biopharmaceutical company’s… dividend yield: 3.46%.

10. Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Hedge Fund Holders: 91

Broadcom is a multinational technology company that designs, develops, and supplies a broad range of semiconductor and infrastructure software solutions. The company pays a quarterly dividend of $5.25 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.62%.

9. Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Hedge Fund Holders: 98

Merck & Co. is an American multinational pharmaceutical company… The company currently offers a quarterly dividend of $0.77 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.39%.

8. Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY)

Hedge Fund Holders: 102

An American pharmaceutical company, Eli Lilly… offers a quarterly dividend of $1.30 per share… The stock's dividend yield came in at 0.68%.

7. JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM)

Hedge Fund Holders: 103

JPMorgan Chase & Co. provides a wide range of banking services to individuals, businesses, and institutions… it pays a quarterly dividend of $1.05 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.29%.

6. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Hedge Fund Holders: 113

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated… offers a per-share dividend of $1.88 every quarter… the stock has a dividend yield of 1.52%.

5. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Hedge Fund Holders: 131

Apple declared a quarterly dividend of $0.24 per share on February 1… The stock’s dividend yield: 0.53%.

4. Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Hedge Fund Holders: 141

The global financial tech company… offers a quarterly dividend of $0.66 per share… with a dividend yield of 0.56%.

3. Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Hedge Fund Holders: 162

It offers a quarterly dividend of $0.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.74%.

2. NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA)

Hedge Fund Holders: 173

On February 22, the company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.04 per share… The stock has a dividend yield of 0.02%.

1. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Hedge Fund Holders: 302

Microsoft Corporation tops our list of the best ESG dividend stocks… The company… pays a quarterly dividend of $0.75 per share. The stock’s dividend yield: 0.74%.”

End quotes.

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4. 4 Clean Energy Stocks That Have Defied the Odds

Now, since clean energy stocks have had such a hard time recently, I thought that this article would interest many of you. It’s titled 4 Clean Energy Stocks That Have Defied the Odds. It’s by Avi Salzman and seen on barrons.com.

Here’s a key chart from the article.

“Clean energy stocks had a miserable 2023… The WilderHill Clean Energy Index is down 47% in the past year…

It’s worth understanding what has set the handful of winning stocks apart. Several of them help facilitate clean energy projects, without being on the hook for financing them.

Green Energy Winners

Company / Ticker

Recent Price

Market Value (billion)

YTD Price Change

2024 P/E

Nextracker / NXT

$57.94

$8.4

23.7%

20

MYR Group / MYRG

163.66

2.7

13.2

25

Quanta Services / PWR

234.39

34.2

8.6

28

Gentherm / THRM

55.68

1.8

6.3

21

Source: FactSet”

End quotes.

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Other Honorable Mentions – not in any order.

1. Title: 12 Best Wind Power and Solar Stocks To Buy on yahoo.com. By Fahad Saleem.

2. Title: 7 Renewable Energy Stocks That Could be Overlooked Gems on investorplace.com. By Chris Markoch.

3. Title: 5 Biggest Clean Energy ETFs in 2024 on nasdaq.com. By Melissa Pistilli.

4. Title: 8 Best Green Stocks and ETFs to Buy for 2024 on money.usnews.com. By Matt Whittaker.

5. Title: The Top 3 Infrastructure Stocks to Buy in March 2024 on investorplace.com. By Charles Munyi.

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Ending Comment

Well, these are my top news stories with their stock and fund tips -- for this podcast titled: “Top Ethical Companies and ESG Dividend Stocks.”

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Thank you for listening.

I’ll talk to you next on March 22nd.

Bye for now.

© 2024 Ron Robins, Investing for the Soul