Updating our Income stocks: Stanley Black & Decker Inc., Conagra Brands Inc. and T. Rowe Price Group Inc.

Article Excerpt

STANLEY BLACK & DECKER INC. $130 (www.stanleyblackanddecker.com) is one of the largest makers of hand power tools for consumers. In addition to its Stanley, and Black & Decker brands, its other top-selling names include DeWalt, Craftsman and Irwin. Starting with the September 2019 payment, Stanley will raise its dividend by 4.5%, to $0.69 a share from $0.66. The new annual rate of $2.76 yields 2.1%. The company has paid dividends continuously for 143 years and has raised the annual rate each year for the past 52 years. Buy. CONAGRA BRANDS INC. $28 (www.conagrabrands.com) continues to cut costs in the wake of its October 2018, purchase of rival food maker Pinnacle Foods. Its top brands include Duncan Hines (cake mixes), Vlasic (pickles), Wish-Bone (salad dressings) and Aunt Jemima (table syrups). As a result, Conagra’s earnings should improve from $2.01 a share in the year ended May 31, 2019, to between $2.08 and $2.18 a share in fiscal 2020. The stock trades at a low 13.1 times the…