5 Best March Dividend Stocks To Buy

3. The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)

Ex-Dividend Date: March 16
Dividend Yield as of February 17: 2.97%

An American multinational beverage company, The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) is next on our list of the best dividend stocks. The company hiked its quarterly dividend by 4.5% on February 16, taking its dividend growth streak to 61 years. It pays a quarterly dividend of $0.46 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.97%, as of February 17. The stock will trade ex-dividend on March 16 and is payable to shareholders of record on March 17.

In the fourth quarter of 2022, The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) reported revenue of over $10 billion, up 6.3% from the same period last year. For FY22, the company generated over $11 billion in operating cash flow and its free cash flow amounted to over $9.5 billion. Its cash flow generation was sufficient to fulfill $7.6 billion worth of dividends.

Citigroup appreciated the gross margin improvement of The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) and raised its price target on the stock to $68 with a Buy rating on the shares.

At the end of Q3 2022, 59 hedge funds in Insider Monkey’s database owned investments in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO), worth over $25 billion.

Rowan Street Capital mentioned The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) in its Q4 2022 investor letter. Here is what the firm has to say:

“Let’s take The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) for example. Its dividend yield is 2.8%, earnings are estimated to grow at only 3.6% rate per year over next 4 years, and its earnings multiple is currently at 24x (based on next years forecasted earnings). KO has an anemic growth, so we can argue that paying 24x earnings is not very attractive. Let’s assume that the multiple will stay constant over the next 3-5 years, thus our expected annual returns will be 2.8%+3.6% = 6.4% (that is below the current reported inflation rate and only slightly above the risk-free rate of 4%).”