Do you like getting paid to do practically nothing? I thought so.
Lots of savvy investors know that they can generate heaps of passive income with dividend-paying stocks. These three businesses are more than just reliable dividend payers; they're known for raising their dividend payouts year after year. Here's how they could provide ever-increasing dividend payments to your brokerage account.
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1. Abbott Laboratories
This healthcare conglomerate's COVID-19 tests made it a stock market darling in 2021. Shares of Abbott Laboratories (ABT -0.03%) have tumbled around 27% since the beginning of 2022 in response to subsiding demand for COVID tests. Now the stock offers a tempting 1.8% dividend yield that could rise significantly in the years ahead.
In the second quarter, COVID-19 testing-related sales fell to $2.3 billion from $3.3 billion during the first quarter of 2022. Luckily for long-term investors, the company could report significant earnings growth even if COVID-19 sales fall off a cliff.
Declining COVID-19 testing revenue isn't a major issue for this diversified conglomerate because its diabetes-care segment is about to rocket higher. In May, the FDA granted clearance to Abbott's FreeStyle Libre 3 system. This device is only the size of a couple of pennies stacked together, but once a patient sticks it on her or his arm, it monitors blood sugar levels constantly for two weeks.
Constant monitoring leads to fewer interventions in expensive hospitals, so insurers and government payers are eager to reimburse patients for the devices. With glucose monitoring sales about to explode higher, Abbott could approve some big dividend raises in the foreseeable future.
2. CVS Health
Shares of CVS Health (CVS -0.65%) surged late last year when the company announced that it would begin raising its dividend payout again. Since then, the stock has been in a holding pattern.
At recent prices, shares of CVS Health offer a 2.2% yield that could grow significantly in the years ahead. In addition to thousands of retail pharmacies, this conglomerate owns a pharmacy benefits management business that boasts more than 110 million plan members.
Integrating a pharmacy benefits management business is one advantage its peers in the retail pharmacy space can't match, and it isn't the company's only big advantage. CVS Health previously paused raising its dividend payout to pay off its acquisition of Aetna, a health insurer that currently collects premiums from an estimated 35 million members.
CVS Health's unique combination of related businesses allowed the company to raise its dividend payout by 10% this year. Without any competitors combining a large retail footprint with a health benefits management business, the latest big payout bump could be the first of many in the years ahead.
3. AbbVie
AbbVie (ABBV -0.30%) was once the pharmaceutical segment of Abbott Laboratories. Shares of AbbVie offer an above-average yield of 4.2% that could climb even higher.
Since the drugmaker spun off in 2013, its dividend has risen an astonishing 253% on the back of its lead drug, Humira. Second-quarter sales of Humira rose 9.6% year over year to a stunning $4.7 billion in the U.S. Unfortunately, international Humira revenue fell 13.8% to $699 million.
AbbVie offers an above-average dividend now because U.S. Humira sales will soon go the same way as international sales. An interchangeable biosimilar version of the anti-inflammatory blockbuster became available in the U.S. this July.
AbbVie investors can expect their dividend payouts to continue rising in the face of Humira competition because the company has new blockbuster drugs to pick up the slack. Second-quarter sales of Rinvoq, a new arthritis drug, and Skyrizi, a new psoriasis drug, soared 75% year over year to a combined $1.84 billion. With new blockbusters to offset Humira losses, AbbVie shareholders could see more big payout bumps in the years ahead.
