Income investors looking for top stocks that pay yields of 3% or better have at least three excellent options to choose from.
After watching the benchmark stock indexes fall hard in early 2022 and remain depressed into the present, I wouldn’t blame you for wanting to avoid the stock market. When it comes to buying stocks, though, the returns you receive are determined in large part by the price you pay.
These three dividend-paying stocks have been beaten down to prices they haven’t seen in at least a year even though their underlying businesses are in great shape. They offer fairly high yields now, which means you’ll get paid to wait around for the next bull market to come along and lift them to new heights.
Medtronic
Medtronic (MDT -1.64%) is the world’s largest medical device maker. While it markets run-of-the-mill goods that you can find in any hospital room, a big part of its business involves cutting-edge technology including Hugo, its robot-assisted surgical system.
Medtronic reports in dollars but it sells lots of devices outside of the U.S. Currency headwinds and rapidly declining sales of ventilators caused the company to report a 0.5% year-over-year contraction to total revenue during its fiscal third quarter ended Jan. 27. After adjusting for currency exchange rates, though, we can see that total sales grew 4.4% year over year.
Now that Medtronic is down near a 52-week low, the shares offer a 3.5% dividend yield. That’s more than twice the average yield on all the dividend-paying stocks in the S&P 500 index.
Medtronic has been able to raise its dividend payout for 45 consecutive years. With nothing but temporary issues causing Medtronic to report shrinking revenue, buying this stock on the dip looks like a smart move.
CVS Health
Shares of CVS Health (CVS 0.13%) offer an above-average 3% dividend yield that has a lot more behind it than you probably think. We’re all familiar with this company’s enormous chain of more than 9,000 retail pharmacies but most Americans don’t realize that this company’s biggest business involves managing health insurance benefits.
In 2018, CVS Health spent a whopping $78 billion to acquire Aetna, a leading insurer that collects premiums from an estimated 35 million people. CVS Health was able to acquire Aetna with profits from a pharmacy benefits management business that boasts over 110 million plan members at the moment.
With thousands of pharmacies and more than 1,100 walk-in clinics, CVS Health can provide many of the benefits it also gets paid to manage. These synergies helped the company raise its dividend payout by 169% over the past decade, and there could be more on the way. The planned acquisitions of Signify Health and Oak Street Health could make CVS Health one of the largest employers of active clinicians in America.
Medical Properties Trust
Medical Properties Trust (MPW -8.25%) is a large real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns 444 hospitals and other acute care facilities. Its facilities are spread throughout 31 states in the U.S. and nine other countries.
Medical Properties Trust doesn’t run hospitals; it just collects rent from 55 different hospital operators. These operators typically sign long-term net leases that leave them responsible for all the variable costs of building ownership, such as maintenance and taxes.
Shares of this REIT fell in response to some impairments it reported in the fourth quarter regarding one tenant that is having a hard time paying its bills. Now, the stock offers an eye-popping 11.5% dividend yield.
In the past, Medical Properties Trust has been able to transition its properties from troubled operators that can’t make ends meet to those that pay rent on time. The REIT might have to reduce its dividend payout in 2023, but investors who buy on the dip will most likely come out miles ahead over the long run.
