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Dividend stocks are a favorite among investors for good reason. They provide a steady income stream and offer a promising avenue for total return. Total return is a comprehensive measure of investment performance that encompasses interest, capital gains, dividends, and distributions realized over time.

Put simply, it’s the sum of income and stock appreciation. Dividend stocks can enhance investment success by providing regular income and the exciting potential of stock value growth.

We decided to explore the Dividend Champions. Regular 24/7 Wall St. readers know that we often write about the Dividend Aristocrats and the Dividend Kings, so here’s the difference. The Dividend Champions are companies that have raised their dividends for 25 years or longer but can be any size market-cap-wise.

The Dividend Champions can range from small-cap to large-cap and don’t have to be in the S&P 500 like the Dividend Aristocrats. While the Dividend Kings are companies that have raised their dividends for 50 years or more and do not have to be in the S&P 500.

The 2024 Dividend Champions list comprises 149 stocks. We’ve sifted through this list to identify five companies with some of the highest dividend payouts; all are perfect ideas for investors seeking a solid and dependable passive income. Check out this dividend legends free report.

Why cover the Dividend Champions?

The key for investors with this group is that they don’t have to be in the S&P 500 and can be any market cap size. That opens the door for many new stocks that have paid reliable dividends for over 25 years.

Altria

This tobacco company offers value investors a great entry point and a rich 7.87% dividend. Altria Group Inc. (NYSE: MO) manufactures and sells smokable and oral tobacco products in the United States through its subsidiaries.

The company provides cigarettes primarily under the Marlboro brand, as well as:

• Cigars and pipe tobacco, principally under the Black & Mild brand
• Moist smokeless tobacco and snus products under the Copenhagen, Skoal, Red Seal, and Husky brands
• on! Oral nicotine pouches

It sells its tobacco products primarily to wholesalers, including distributors and large retail organizations, such as chain stores. Altria owns over 10% of Anheuser-Busch InBev S.A. (NYSE: BUD), the world’s largest brewer. Recently, the company announced it would sell 35 million of its 197 million shares through a global secondary offering.

Enterprise Products Partners

This company is one of the largest publicly traded energy partnerships and pays a 6.95% dividend. Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE: EPD) provides various midstream energy services, including:

• Gathering processing transporting and storing natural gas, natural gas liquids (NGLs) fractionation
• Import and export terminalling
• Offshore production platform services

The company has four reportable business segments:

• Natural Gas Pipelines and Services
• NGL Pipelines and Services
• Petrochemical Services
• Crude Oil Pipelines and Services

One reason many analysts like the stock might be its distribution coverage ratio. The company’s coverage ratio is well above 1x, making it relatively less risky in the MLP sector.

Eversource Energy

This conservative stock idea is off the radar and pays a rich 4.50% dividend. Eversource Energy (NYSE: ES) is a public utility holding company that provides energy delivery services.

The company operates through four segments:

• Electric Distribution
• Electric Transmission
• Natural Gas Distribution
• Water Distribution

It transmits and distributes electricity, solar power facilities, and natural gas.

The company operates regulated water utilities that provide water services to approximately 241,000 customers. It serves residential, commercial, industrial, municipal, and fire protection customers in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire.

Realty Income

This is an ideal stock for growth and income investors looking for a safer contrarian idea for the rest of 2024 that pays a whopping 5.50% dividend. Realty Income Corp. (NYSE: O) is an S&P 500 company that provides stockholders with dependable monthly income.

Realty Income is structured as a REIT, and its monthly dividends are supported by the cash flow from over 15,540 real estate properties owned under long-term lease agreements with commercial tenants.

The company has declared 644 consecutive common stock monthly dividends throughout its 55-year operating history and increased the dividend 123 times since Realty Income’s public listing in 1994.

UGI

This Dividend Champion offers a fat 6.12% dividend and stellar total return potential. UGI Corp. (NYSE: UGI), together with its subsidiaries, distributes, stores, transports, and markets energy products and related services in the United States and internationally.

The company operates through four segments:

• AmeriGas Propane
• UGI International
• Midstream & Marketing
• UGI Utilities

Its extensive network of 1,400 propane distribution locations distributes propane to approximately 1.3 million residential, commercial/industrial, motor fuel, agricultural, and wholesale customers.

The company distributes liquefied petroleum gases (LPG) to:

• Residential
• Commercial
• Industrial
• Agricultural
• Wholesale
• Automobile fuel customers
• Provides logistics, storage, and other services to third-party LPG distributors

In addition, UGI retails natural gas, liquid fuels, and electricity to approximately 12,400 residential, commercial, and industrial customers at 42,000 locations.

Further, the company distributes natural gas to approximately 677,000 customers in eastern and central Pennsylvania counties through its distribution system of roughly 12,500 miles of gas mains and supplies electricity to approximately 62,600 customers in northeastern Pennsylvania through 2,560 miles of lines and 14 substations.

Additionally, it operates electric generation facilities, which include:

• Coal-fired
• Landfill gas-fueled
• Solar-powered
• Natural gas-fueled facilities
• Natural gas liquefaction, storage, and vaporization facility
• Propane storage and propane-air mixing stations
• Rail transshipment terminals

It also manages natural gas pipeline and storage contracts and develops, owns, and operates pipelines, gathering infrastructure, and gas storage facilities.

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