Altria Group Inc (MO), Zurich Insurance Group Ltd (ADR) (ZURVY) And EPR Properties (EPR): Best Dividend Stocks

Dividend yield stocks are best suited for investors who are looking for a regular and reasonable stream of income. That prompted Fox Business to understand the investment philosophy of one of the renowned firm, Meritage Portfolio Management and its CIO, Mark Eveans, and the firm’s recommendation about the best dividend stocks. In response, Eveans said that their portfolio management is a combination of deeper value approach and extensive and robust decision making process, which helps them to create an excellent blended portfolio. Thus, based on their research, Eveans lists out three companies, namely Altria Group Inc (NYSE:MO), Zurich Insurance Group Ltd (ADR) (OTCMKTS:ZURVY) and EPR Properties (NYSE:EPR) along with the reasons as to why those are good dividend bets.

The first stock picked by Eveans is Altria Group Inc (NYSE:MO), which has a huge cash flow and an equally larger dividend. Eveans said that he picked the stock lately due to a series of news in the stock. “The price is back down to value investors like us, that is a great thing,” he added.

Eveans explained that they expect Altria Group Inc (NYSE:MO)’s new dividend yield to increase by 8% for the next year, so the company largely places itself among steady cash generators as evidenced from the fact of 5% yield on price of $40.

Zurich Insurance Group Ltd (ADR) (OTCMKTS:ZURVY) is another stock on Eveans recommendation list as he explained about his broad-based approach to pick international companies, which have a better view on dividends than the home companies. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd (ADR) (OTCMKTS:ZURVY) is a Swiss company with a 6.2% dividend yield with a decent cash flow. Eveans said that though the company’s dividend growth is of a cyclical nature, but still he expects it to deliver 4-5% increase in dividend yields for coming four to five years.

Finally, EPR Properties (NYSE:EPR) is yet another company picked up by Eveans. While, EPR Properties (NYSE:EPR) being based on megaplexes does not appear attractive to investors, Eveans has faith in the company. “It’s a niche player in a couple of spaces, and certainly movies,” he also said.

But Eveans argued that the company is active and strong, when it comes to investing in areas of entertainment, breaking the conventional ideas of just showing a movie.

Disclosure: none