3 Stocks With Safe 3% Yields

By history's standards, a 3% dividend yield shouldn't seem suspiciously high. U.S. shares yielded an average of 3.7% between 1950 and 2000, and much more during earlier periods. Today, however, it's worth asking: What's wrong with these 3% yielders? That's because nearly one-quarter of the country's largest 500 publicly traded firms pay nothing. Among the rest, the average yield is just 2.2%.

Shares that pay more than 3%, in other words, ought to attract enough buyers to push their prices higher and their yields lower -- unless investors have good reason to stay away. The companies below face challenges that seem manageable, and their sales and profits have increased of late.
1. Darden Restaurants (DRI)
2. Procter & Gamble (PG)
3. Intel (INTC)

Source: Smart Money

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