The stock market has had a hot first half, with the S & P 500 up roughly 15%, but there are still opportunities for investors to find cheap names with solid dividends. With the Federal Reserve expected to start cutting interest rates later in the year, bond yields will also move lower, which could make dividend stocks look more attractive. The central bank has signaled it will begin slashing rates sometime this year, although it currently anticipates just one cut in 2024 .
Income generated by these dividend payers can help protect investors' portfolios during tumultuous markets. To find dividend stocks that are trading at a discount, CNBC Pro used FactSet data to screen the S & P 500 for names that have buy or overweight ratings from at least 60% of the analysts covering them and that have a forward price-to-earnings ratio of less than the S & P 500's 22.56.
They also have upside to the average analyst price target of 10% or more, according to FactSet. In addition, the companies have a dividend yield of at least 2%, higher than the index's yield of 1.27%.
Here are the stocks that made the cut. Vici Properties and Host Hotels & Resorts are both real estate investment trusts, yielding 5.9% and 4.
5%, respectively. The real estate sector has been beaten down this year. It is the only S & P sector in the red, losing more than 4% year to date.
Yet, many on Wall Street see opportunity. Roughly 88% of analysts covering Vici Properties rate it a buy or overweight, and 78% of those cov.