In China, 2022 is the year of the tiger. On Wall Street, 2022 could perhaps be called the year of the stock split. Several companies that millions of investors follow closely conducted stock splits this year.

The biggest names on the list of stock splits -- Alphabet, Amazon, Shopify, and Tesla -- don't pay dividends. But that doesn't mean that you can't find any dividend-paying companies that have split their stocks. Here's the stock-split stock that dividend investors should love the most.

A dividend to love

Brookfield Infrastructure (BIP 3.35%) (BIPC 3.21%) conducted a 3-for-2 stock split in June. The company doesn't enjoy the level of attention garnered by Alphabet, Amazon, Shopify, and Tesla. However, those high-profile stocks haven't delivered positive gains so far this year; Brookfield Infrastructure has. 

There are two ways to invest in Brookfield Infrastructure. The company was originally structured as a limited partnership (LP) and listed its shares as Brookfield Infrastructure Partners under the BIP ticker. It formed Brookfield Infrastructure Corporation a few years ago with ticker BIPC to give investors a way to buy shares without the tax hassles associated with LPs.

BIP and BIPC share the same underlying business. They also pay the same dividend (referred to as a distribution by the company). However, because the share prices of the two stocks differ, their dividend yields are also different. BIP's dividend yield currently stands at close to 3.5%, while BIPC's dividend yield is a little over 2.9%.

Either way, it's a dividend that investors should love. Brookfield Infrastructure has consistently paid distributions throughout its history. The company has increased its distribution by a compound annual growth rate of around 10% since 2009. And it expects to continue increasing the distribution by at least 5% to 9% each year over the long term. 

Behind the dividend

What really makes Brookfield Infrastructure's dividend so attractive, though, is the business behind the dividend. The company owns infrastructure assets around the world that generate steady and reliable cash flow.

Importantly, Brookfield Infrastructure's assets are well diversified across four continents and four key lines of business -- utilities, transport, midstream oil and gas, and data. The company's transport operations, which include 32,300 kilometers of railroads and 3,800 kilometers of toll roads, generated the most funds from operations (FFO) of these four areas in the first half of 2022. 

However, Brookfield Infrastructure's utilities and midstream operations weren't too far behind. Its midstream business, which includes natural gas pipelines, storage, and processing plants, ranked as the fastest-growing business during the first half of the year.

For now, the company's data operations, featuring data centers, fiber optic cable, and telecom towers, don't make as much money as its other businesses. However, that could change in the future. Brookfield Infrastructure is investing heavily in data operations. For example, the company recently landed a big deal with Intel to partner on the construction of two semiconductor fabrication factories in Arizona.

High inflation doesn't present a major challenge for Brookfield Infrastructure. Around 70% of its cash flow is indexed to inflation. The company also has the financial strength to weather economic downturns. 

Beyond the dividend

You don't have to be a dividend investor to love this stock, though. Brookfield Infrastructure also has a solid growth strategy. The company has an active asset recycling plan to sell mature assets and reinvest in new high-quality assets that are available at an attractive price.

This approach has worked really well for Brookfield Infrastructure and its investors. The stock's annualized total return over the past five years and since inception has trounced the total return of the S&P 500 and other peer benchmark indexes.