These highly rated stocks offer strong dividends

Published Tue, Feb 21 202312:28 PM EST

As higher interest rates continue to weigh on markets, investors can pick out some highly-rated dividend stocks to bolster their portfolios. Dividend stocks can offer investors some stability during periods of volatility. Companies that provide dividends to shareholders steadily generates profits, and are more likely to give investors at least some return on investment. What's more, dividend stocks are resilient during downturns. That could be especially attractive for investors as stocks sell off to start a holiday-shortened week. During Tuesday trading, the The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled more than 500 points, or about 1.6%. Meanwhile, the S & P 500 dropped 1.5%, and the Nasdaq Composit e shed 2%. A series of retail earnings including poor results from Home Depot weighed on markets, along with higher interest rates. Given this, we screened for highly-rated stocks that offer strong dividends, using Morningstar data. These names have a 5 star rating from Morningstar and boast a forward dividend yield of 3% or more. They have a market cap of at least $1 billion and list the U.S. as a country of business. Here are the stocks that made the cut. Verizon made an appearance on our list. The telecommunications stock has slightly underperformed the S & P 500 in 2023, but has a forward dividend yield of 6.49%. In December, Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock to overweight , saying the stock looks favorable after lagging its peers, especially for its defensive business mix. Hasbro is a highly-rated dividend stock. The gaming and consumer products company has dipped slightly this year, but has a 4.71% forward dividend yield. In addition, last week, CFRA analyst Zachary Warring upgraded Hasbro to strong buy from buy, saying the stock has more than 50% upside from Friday's closing price to his price target of $90. Meanwhile, Newmont was also a stock on the list. The basic materials stock has a 4.84% forward dividend yield. Other stocks in this list include Hanesbrands and Kilroy Realty .