5 Dividend Kings to Buy in July with Irristable Value and Yield

Dividend Kings are an attractive investment because their 50-year streak of consecutive dividend payments reflects business stability across business cycles, flexibility to adapt with the times, durable cash flows and a penchant for capital returns that help reduce portfolio volatility and compound wealth.

The best time to buy these stocks is when they are unloved, and their prices are low, as they’ve proven their resilience and ability to drive value over time; buying them when they’re low provides more attractive value-to-yield ratios.

Procter & Gamble Offers Rare Discount on Premium Brand

Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) shares are down from their post-COVID highs on macroeconomic headwinds, sluggish demand, and shifting consumer habits, but are far from out of the fight. As the leading manufacturer of home health and hygiene products globally, it is well-positioned for success. Its 70-year streak of dividend increases attests to that.

The detail investors should focus on is the valuation, which appears high at face value compared to peers, but is down significantly from historical norms.

Procter & Gamble stock tends to trade at a premium valuation due to its high dividend payout, which amounts to about 60% of the company’s earnings and yields nearly 3%. Procter & Gamble’s cash flow also allows for share buybacks. The Q1 activity contributed to a 1.35% trailing 12-month (TTM) reduction, a pace likely to continue.

Analysts' trends reflect a cautionary tone but provide no red flags. MarketBeat tracks 22 analysts rating the stock as a Moderate Buy, with a 55% Buy-side bias and modest upside at the midpoint target. Institutions, which collectively own 65% of the stock, limit downside as they’ve been accumulating shares at a pace greater than $2 to $1.

Hormel’s 50% Discount Is a High-Yield Opportunity

Hormel (NYSE: HRL) faces headwinds like any consumer staple, with rising costs and consumer shifts impacting the top and bottom lines. However, the resilient food processor has a 60-year streak of dividend increases, suggesting it can weather this storm, too.

Among the efforts is the divestiture of underperforming businesses in favor of higher-margin value-added foods. The massive 50% stock price discount offered in 2026 comes with a dividend yield approaching 5%.

Reasons to buy HRL in 2026 include its fiscal Q2 results, which revealed its strategy is working. Prepared foods helped sustain modest growth, outperformance, and margin improvement, enabling a bottoming in analyst sentiment. Meanwhile, institutions have been aggressively accumulating, setting the stage for a market reversal when a catalyst emerges. That could be as soon as year-end, assuming further progress on the repositioning.

Stanley Black & Decker Is Reverting to Sustainable Growth

Stanley Black & Decker (NYSE: SWK) faces the same headwinds as other consumer-facing Dividend Kings, compounded by a CEO transition.

Effective in late 2025, the leadership change brings a renewed focus on margins, profitability, and the quality of capital returns. CEO Christopher Nelson is taking a margin-first, revenue-second approach, which is resulting in sluggish top-line performance offset by improving profitability.

The takeaway is that SWK’s dividend, which yields approximately 3.6% as of early July, is safer than ever. Looking ahead, quarterly results are forecast to remain mixed this year, with tepid top-line growth offset by margin improvement, then shift to top- and bottom-line growth the year after. Institutions, which own approximately 87% of the stock, show a high degree of confidence in the outlook, having aggressively accumulated over the TTM period.

Genuine Parts Company: A King by Any Other Name Will Pay as Sweetly

Genuine Parts Company (NYSE: GPC) stock is down due to a combination of factors, including concerns about the proposed split. Expected to be completed in early 2027, Genuine Parts Company will split into two pureplays, one focused on the consumer market and one on the industrial.

The core consumer brand is NAPA, comparable to capital-return machines such as AutoZone (NYSE: AZO) and O’Reilly (NASDAQ: ORLY), and both new companies are expected to return capital. While technically the 70-year streak of increases will end, dropping GPC from the Dividend King ranks, the new companies can be lumped in with names like AbbVie (NASDAQ: ABBV), which retains King-like status despite its split from Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT).

Investors who buy in this summer get a yield over 3% and an outlook for not only sustained returns, but price-multiple expansion. Trading at approximately 16x its current-year earnings forecast, Genuine Parts Company presents a discount relative to AutoZone’s 19.5x and a deep value relative to O’Reilly, which trades above 25x. The industrially focused company is expected to experience a more robust expansion, as its peers trade in the 30x range.

Lowe’s Positions to Sustain Growth Ahead—Waiting for Housing Recovery

Lowe’s (NYSE: LOW) is down due to sluggish growth, persistent weakness in the housing market, and consumers shying away from discretionary projects.

The offset is that Lowe’s business is supported by a baseline demand underpinned by housing supply-and-demand imbalances that sustain home building, remodel, and upkeep activity, if at subdued levels.

The takeaway is that Lowe’s cash flow, though diminished relative to more robust periods, is sufficient to sustain capital returns while the company invests in the future. Lowe’s future includes an intensified focus on pro markets. Pro markets provide a dual revenue stream and clients who purchase more frequently, in larger volumes, and across categories.

Lowe’s is the lowest-yielding on this list, paying just over 2.2% in annualized yield as of early July, but it is the safest. The payout ratio runs in the 40% range, enabling a more robust pace of annual increases.

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