Working to make money is smart. Making your money work for you is even smarter. There are lots of ways to generate passive income. Investing in dividend stocks is one of the tried-and-true approaches.
But some dividend stocks are better than others at making your money work for you. Buying $100,000 of each of these 5 dividend stocks can make you nearly $33,000 in passive income per year.
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1. Devon Energy
You'll be hard-pressed to find a better dividend stock these days than Devon Energy (DVN 0.78%). The oil and gas producer offers a fixed-plus-variable dividend that should yield around 8% this year. An initial investment of $100,000 in the stock will make you roughly $8,000 over the next 12 months.
Devon's dividend yield is around 6 times greater than the S&P 500 average yield. The company has paid a dividend for 29 consecutive years. The stock has also been a huge winner, skyrocketing 179% last year and up nearly 60% so far in 2022.
2. Easterly Government Properties
Organized as a real estate investment trust (REIT), Easterly Government Properties (DEA 1.49%) must return at least 90% of its taxable income to shareholders as dividends. It has plenty of income to distribute. Easterly's dividend yield currently stands at 6.37%. Buying $100,000 of the stock can make you $6,370 in annual passive income.
Easterly focuses on leasing properties to U.S. federal agencies. There's arguably no better tenant in the world than Uncle Sam. This is the kind of dividend stock that you can buy and hold without having to worry about its underlying business.
3. Enterprise Products Partners
Investing another $100,000 in Enterprise Products Partners (EPD 1.41%) can generate $6,940 per year in income. That's because the midstream energy company's dividend yields 6.94% right now.
Enterprise ranks as one of the safest energy dividend stocks on the market. Its assets include oil and gas pipelines, storage and transportation facilities, and more. Even if oil and gas prices decline, the company will be in good shape. And its stock is trouncing the overall market with a year-to-date gain of more than 20%.
4. Medical Properties Trust
You can also make plenty of passive income with Medical Properties Trust (MPW -8.68%)(MPT). Buying $100,000 worth of the healthcare REIT's shares will produce $6,370 per year thanks to MPT's dividend yield of 6.37%.
MPT is also a pretty safe pick. The company owns and leases hospital facilities in 10 countries. It has a diversified tenant base of 53 hospital operators with the single largest portfolio representing less than 3% of its total portfolio.
5. Verizon Communications
Verizon Communications (VZ 0.90%) offers a dividend yield of 5.24%. Therefore, an investment of $100,000 in the telecom stock will generate $5,240 in annual income. That brings the grand total of passive income potential for the five dividend stocks mentioned to $32,920.
The company has increased its dividend for 15 consecutive years. Although the stock hasn't been a big winner in recent years, it's holding up better than most in the current market decline. Verizon's future prospects also appear to be good with the increased adoption of 5G networks.
