20 Safest Dividend Achievers

 | Mar 28, 2013 07:27AM ET

Some investors are greedy and tend to overlook risks. Others are too anxious and avoid buying stocks in larger amounts.

If you invest money in the stock market and you do it wisely and diversify, you could end up with returns close to the performance of the broader market. I believe that a return of 8 percent is realistic and good enough to beat inflation and grow wealth.

Today I'm screening for a category of stocks with a longer dividend growth history, the Dividend Challengers. Those stocks have managed to raise dividends over a period of more than five years in a row but less than 10 years. 167 companies have fulfilled these dividend growth criteria.

Below is a list of the 20 safest stocks from this category. They have a beta ratio of less than 0.5 as well as a market capitalization of over USD 2.0 billion. Six of these stocks have a high yield; Nine are recommended to buy.

Boardwalk Pipelines (BWP) has a market capitalization of $6.65 billion. The company employs 1,200 people, generates revenue of $1.185 billion and has a net income of $306.00 million. The firm’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) amounts to $726.10 million. The EBITDA margin is 61.27 percent (the operating margin is 39.98 percent and the net profit margin 25.82 percent).

Financial Analysis: The total debt represents 45.01 percent of the company’s assets and the total debt in relation to the equity amounts to 91.28 percent. Due to the financial situation, a return on equity of 7.43 percent was realized. Twelve trailing months earnings per share reached a value of $1.28. Last fiscal year, the company paid $2.13 in the form of dividends to shareholders.

Market Valuation: Here are the price ratios of the company: The P/E ratio is 22.58, the P/S ratio is 5.61 and the P/B ratio is finally 1.75. The dividend yield amounts to 7.39 percent and the beta ratio has a value of 0.24.