Dividend stocks should ideally be buy-and-forget investments that you don't have to worry about. With the stocks being featured today, you won't need to continuously check on if their payouts are safe and if the dividend income you earn from them will suddenly dry up. CVS Health (CVS -1.23%), Home Depot (HD -0.34%), and Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD 0.43%) all offer above-average payouts that you can count on for the long haul. Let's find out a bit more about these three dividend stocks you can buy and forget about.
1. CVS Health
CVS Health is a top name in healthcare with its retail pharmacies and health insurance business Aetna giving investors a great way to gain exposure to the industry. Although its profit margins aren't huge, the business is a fairly safe bet to stay in the black; over the trailing 12 months, it has reported an operating profit of $15.9 billion on revenue of $315.2 billion.
The company also continues to look for ways to get bigger and more diversified. Earlier this year, it announced plans to acquire home health company Signify Health for $8 billion. With CVS generating $19.5 billion in free cash flow during the past year, the company is in great shape to pursue growth opportunities while still paying its dividend, which cost it just $2.8 billion during that time frame.
CVS announced last week that it would be raising its quarterly dividend payment by 10% to $0.605 per share, pushing its yield up to 2.5%, which is higher than the S&P 500 average of 1.7%. The company's sound financials and pursuit of growth make it one of the better dividend stocks to buy and hold.
2. Home Depot
Home improvement retailer Home Depot offers a similar yield of 2.4%. The stock makes for a great investment because it's a trusted name in home repair, and that's an expense that homeowners can't easily forgo. More than three-quarters of new home buyers have to deal with an unexpected repair within their first year of acquiring a house, so it's a safe assumption that Home Depot won't run out of demand for its products and services anytime soon.
Even though things have slowed down, the company still anticipates comparable sales growth of 3% for the current fiscal year (it ends in January) while reporting an operating profit of more than 15%.
During the past 12 months, the company's free cash flow has topped $10.2 billion, which is 34% more than the $7.6 billion it paid out in dividends during that time. Home Depot raised its dividend payments by 15% this year, and with strong free cash flow, there could be room for more rate hikes in its future.
3. Toronto-Dominion Bank
A top bank stock is often a must for serious dividend investors. Banks effectively "print" money and are fantastic investments to hold because as long as the economy grows, their profits will as well. Dividend income and long-term stability are among the main reasons investors choose to buy shares of the big banks.
The Canadian-based TD Bank provides investors with the highest yield on this list at 4.4%. Over its past four quarters, the company generated profits totaling 17.2 billion Canadian dollars on revenue of CA$45.8 billion, for an impressive profit margin of 38%.
The company's quarterly dividend will jump by 8% to $0.96 next year, as TD has announced a recent rate hike. The top bank is gushing with money as its free cash flow over the trailing 12 months has totaled CA$37.5 billion -- more than five times the CA$6.7 billion that it has paid in dividends.
Investors don't have much to worry about with TD as it has plenty of cash coming in and an impressive streak; the big bank has been paying a dividend since 1857.
