3 Supercharged Dividend Stocks to Buy If There's a Stock Market Sell-Off

The market has dished plenty of ups and downs to investors over the past year, and there's no telling exactly when the volatility will end. The good news is, as a long-term investor, you don't need to make your investment decisions around the whims of the market. Rather, as you focus your capital on quality companies with strong track records of growth and abundant pathways to future growth, you can continue to invest in all market environments to supercharge your portfolio gains over the long haul. 

Here are three top dividend stocks you may want to consider adding to your portfolio before the year is out. 

1. AbbVie 

As a member of the illustrious Dividend King club, AbbVie (ABBV 0.25%) has a payout history that few income stocks can rival. The stock currently yields 3.6% based on share prices, which is nearly twice the yield of the average stock trading on the S&P 500. Meanwhile, AbbVie's dividend has risen by roughly 270% in the past decade, enabling the stock to deliver a total return of about 650% for investors.  

The company boasts a wide-ranging portfolio of products that generate consistent demand, including medicines targeting various immunological, oncological, and neurological disorders. It also wields a fast-growing portfolio of aesthetic products. Two of the most well-known are Botox Cosmetic and Botox Therapeutic, which the company acquired in its 2020 purchase of Allergan. 

Humira, famously known as the world's top-selling drug, has been a key driver of AbbVie's growth over the years. However, the company has been paving the way for growth beyond the blockbuster status of Humira for many years now by cultivating its pipeline, launching new medicines, and making targeted acquisitions. While the Allergan acquisition expanded its footprint in the aesthetic medicine market, AbbVie's purchases of U.K.-based biotech DJS Antibodies and Belgian biotech Syndesi Therapeutics earlier this year significantly augmented its immunology and neuroscience portfolios, two segments that remain the key revenue drivers year after year.

Even as patent exclusivity for Humira runs out in the U.S. in 2023, AbbVie has many other products it can count on to drive prolonged growth in the future. For example, top-selling immunology medicines Skyrizi and Rinvoq saw total revenues rise 75% and 54%, respectively, in the third quarter of 2022 compared to the same period in 2021.

Over the trailing decade, AbbVie has seen its annual revenue and earnings increase by respective amounts of 206% and 120%. AbbVie's track record and robust portfolio of products bode well for its future growth story, as well as for income investors taking a long-term position in this tried-and-true healthcare stock. 

2. Target

Target (TGT 1.28%) is also a Dividend King, with 51 years of consecutive dividend increases to its name. Meanwhile, the stock has seen its dividend rise 200% over the trailing decade, with the stock delivering a total return of 223%. Target currently boasts a yield of 2.8%. 

Admittedly, the road has not been smooth lately for Target shareholders. After accumulating too much inventory earlier in the pandemic, Target's earnings and margins have taken a severe hit in recent quarters as the company has worked to rid itself of this excess stock of goods. 

While consumer spending ramped up a few years ago, as the macro environment has shifted in the pandemic recovery and consumers have curbed spending, many companies have found themselves with too much inventory on hand. Target was no exception. The high rate of inflation also continues to be a factor in scaling back consumer spending. All these elements have caused pain for Target's balance sheet -- and for investors -- but these are near-term dynamics and not durable headwinds to the business. 

Target was already starting to see progress from its aggressive inventory offload plan in the most recent quarter. Total revenue rose 3% year over year to $26.5 billion, while its operating margin rate improved from 1.2% in the second quarter to 4% in the third. While net earnings and operating income were both down on a year-over-year basis, these still totaled $712 million and $1 billion, respectively.

Bear in mind, this follows revenue and earnings growth of 45% and 132% over the trailing decade. Target boasts a versatile business that covers product categories ranging from daily-use essentials to discretionary items. For investors with the patience to wait out the volatility of the imminent environment, the diversity of Target's established business can drive generous returns over the long term. 

3. Colgate-Palmolive 

Household name Colgate-Palmolive (CL -0.05%) is also a Dividend King, having both paid out and raised its dividend for 59 years in a row. The stock's yield sits around 2.4% at the time of this writing. Although the stock has not been a particularly high performer in recent years, over the past decade, faithful investors have enjoyed witnessing that dividend increase by more than 50%.  

While no consumer-centric stock is immune to the ills of inflation, Colgate-Palmolive has more optionality than most due to the essential nature of its thousands of branded products. In addition to its namesake brands Colgate and Palmolive, the company also sells a range of other well-known brands, including Tom's of Maine, Ajax, Axion, Speed Stick, Protex, and Hill's Pet Nutrition. From oral care to personal care to pet care, people are going to keep buying these products regardless of what's happening with the economy. 

And with a company history that spans 216 years and counting, this clearly isn't Colgate-Palmolive's first rodeo. Foreign currency fluctuations and inflationary factors that raise the cost of doing business -- both near-term and non-business-related headwinds -- affected the company's top and bottom lines in the most recent quarter. However, it still reported organic sales growth of 7% year over year to $4.5 billion, while net income came to $618 million for the three-month period.  

The nature of Colgate-Palmolive's business and the products it sells don't lend themselves to lightning-fast growth quarter to quarter or even year over year. Yet, the company still increased its annual revenue and annual net income by respective clips of 13% and 7% over the past five years alone. For income investors looking to add a steady-growth, blue-chip stock to a well-diversified portfolio, Colgate-Palmolive certainly fits the bill on both fronts.