4 Solid Dividend Stocks to Buy in Whipsawed Markets

If you are not the type of investor to jump on the bond-market bandwagon during market instability, perhaps looking at a few conservative dividend stocks will give the desired results during volatile conditions. Due to the beaten up financial sector, when looking at virtually any time frame over the past year, we will exclude any such company.Some of the criteria we will look for are: Seven years of increasing dividends Seven-year dividend growth rate greater than 10% Current earnings growth above the three-year average A reduction in liabilities/assets on the quarterly report Yield greater than 3 percent Payout ratio less than 50% (or 85% for utility companies) Dividend Stocks to Contemplate Avista Corporation (AVA)This utility company is trading 27% above its book value. Long-term earnings growth is estimated around 4.67%, with a dividend yield of 4.3%. Three-to-five-year sales growth has hovered around 3% but the company has continued... Read more