Investing

The Highest Yielding Dividend Kings Are the Perfect Gift Under the Tree This Year

Lee Jackson

Published: December 14, 2024 8:12 am

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

24/7 Wall St. Key Points:

• The December federal funds rate cut may be the last one for a while.
• With the stock market at nosebleed levels, owning dividend stocks makes sense.
• Year-end portfolio checkups make sense after a massive year for stocks. Financial advisors can help protect assets and set you up for 2025. Go ahead and click here to get started finding one. (sponsored)

Let’s take a closer look at the concept of total return. Imagine you purchase a stock at $20 that offers a 3% dividend. If the stock price rises to $22 within a year, your total return is 13%. This is calculated by adding the 10% increase in stock price to the 3% dividend.

Some of the best stocks for passive investors are the Dividend Kings, 53 companies that have raised their dividends for at least 50 years, a testament to their dependability and reliability. Those are two “must-have” items for investors who rely on passive income to boost their overall revenue.

We screened the list of stocks that investors may need to become more familiar with and found five top companies that pay the highest dividends in the group and offer investors some solid passive income. Passive income is a steady stream of unearned income that does not require active traditional work. Ideas for earning passive income include investments, real estate, or side hustles.

Why we recommend the Dividend Kings

Companies that have paid and raised their dividends for 50 years and longer are the kind that growth and income investors want to buy and hold in stock portfolios forever. These stocks are mostly conservative, and should we see a dramatic market correction, they will likely hold their ground much better than volatile technology names.

Altria

This tobacco company offers value investors a great entry point and a rich 7.30% 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
• e-vapor products under the NJOY ACE brand

It sells its tobacco products primarily to wholesalers, including distributors and large retail organizations, such as chain stores.

Altria used to own over 10% of Anheuser-Busch InBev N.V. (NYSE: BUD), the world’s largest brewer. The company sold 35 million of its 197 million shares through a global secondary offering earlier this year. That represents 18% of their holdings but still leaves a hefty 8% of the outstanding shares in their back pocket. They also announced a $2.4 billion stock repurchase plan partially funded by the sale.

Universal

While this company’s products, like Altria’s, may not be for everyone, they have strong demand, have been in business for almost 150 years, and offer shareholders a hefty 5.90% dividend. Universal Corp. (NYSE: UVV) processes and supplies leaf tobacco and plant-based ingredients worldwide. The company operates through two segments.

The Tobacco Operations segment is involved in procuring, processing, packing, storing, and shipping of flue-cured, burley, dark air-cured, and oriental leaf tobacco for manufacturers of consumer tobacco products, as well as provision of related services:

• Providing specialty services, such as custom blending, chemical and physical testing of tobacco, service cutting, reconstituted leaf tobacco manufacturing, and just-in-time product delivery services
• Liquid nicotine for tobacco products manufacturers
• Recycled waste materials from tobacco production

The Ingredients Operations segment engages in the production of specialty plant-based ingredients, including:

• Fruits, vegetables, herbs, fruit and vegetable juices
• Concentrates
• Pomaces
• Ciders
• Purees
• Nutraceuticals
• Fruit fibers
• Seeds and seed powders

In addition to dehydrated products, botanical extracts, distillates, natural flavors, colors, and other value-added products for consumer-packaged goods manufacturers and retailers, as well as food, beverage, and flavor companies.

Canadian Utilities

With a strong 5.15% dividend and a highly safe sector, this company is a steal at current trading levels. Canadian Utilities Ltd. (CDUAF) engages in the electricity, natural gas, renewables, pipelines, liquids, and retail energy businesses in Canada, Australia, and internationally.

It operates through three segments:

• ATCO Energy Systems
• ATCO EnPower
• Corporate & Other segments

The ATCO Energy Systems segment provides regulated electricity transmission and distribution services in:

• Northern and Central East Alberta
• The Yukon
• The Northwest Territories
• The Lloydminster area of Saskatchewan

This segment also provides integrated natural gas transmission and distribution services in Alberta, the Lloydminster area of Saskatchewan, and Western Australia. It owns and operates approximately 9,100 kilometers of natural gas pipelines, 11 compressor sites, approximately 3,600 receipt and delivery points, and a salt cavern natural gas storage peaking facility near Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta in Canada.

The ATCO EnPower segment provides:

• Hydro
• Solar
• Wind
• Natural gas electricity generation
• Natural gas storage
• Industrial water solutions
• Clean fuels, including hydrogen, carbon capture, and underground storage projects; and related infrastructure development in Alberta, the Yukon; the Northwest Territories, Australia, Ontario, Mexico, and Chile

The Corporate & Other segment retails electricity and natural gas and provides whole-home solutions.

Northwest Natural

This off-the-radar utility stock suits worried conservative investors and pays a solid 4.68% dividend. Northwest Natural Holding Co. (NYSE: NWN), through its subsidiary, Northwest Natural Gas Company, provides regulated natural gas distribution services to residential, commercial, industrial, and transportation customers in Oregon and Southwest Washington.

The company also operates:

• 5.7 billion cubic feet of the Mist gas storage facility contracted to other utilities and third-party marketers
• Offers natural gas asset management services
• Operates an appliance retail center
• In addition, it engages in gas storage, water, non-regulated renewable natural gas, and other investments and activities.

The company provides:

• Natural gas service through approximately 786,000 meters in Oregon and southwest Washington
• Water services to about 80,000 people through about 33,000 water and wastewater connections in the Pacific Northwest and Texas

Black Hills

This Dividend King is also way off the radar for many but is among the safest plays now and pays a hefty 4.15% dividend. Through its subsidiaries, Black Hills Corp. (NYSE: BKH) operates as an electric and natural gas utility company in the United States.

It operates in two segments:

• Electric Utilities
• Gas Utilities

The Electric Utilities segment generates, transmits, and distributes electricity to approximately 220,000 electric utility customers in:

• Colorado
• Montana
• South Dakota
• Wyoming

The company also owns and operates 1,482 megawatts of generation capacity and 0,024 miles of electric transmission and distribution lines.

The Gas Utilities segment distributes natural gas to approximately 1,107,000 natural gas utility customers in:

• Arkansas
• Colorado
• Iowa
• Kansas
• Nebraska
• Wyoming

In addition, the company owns and operates:

• 4,713 miles of intrastate gas transmission pipelines
• 42,222 miles of gas distribution mains and service lines
• Seven natural gas storage sites
• Approximately 50,000 horsepower of compression and 515 miles of gathering lines.

Black Hills also constructs and maintains gas infrastructure facilities for gas transportation customers, provides appliance repair services to residential utility customers, and constructs electrical systems for large industrial customers.

Lastly, it produces electric power through wind, natural gas, coal-fired generating plants, and coal at its coal mine near Gillette, Wyoming.

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