Healthcare stocks with dividends can be a good place to park funds during inflationary periods. That's especially true if those dividends have yields that are high enough, say above 2.5% at the minimum, and are well covered by companies with a tradition of dividend increases and revenue growth.

Medical Properties Trust (MPW -1.10%), Sanofi (SNY -0.47%), and Medtronic (MDT 0.62%) all have dividends yielding 2.5% or more with a history of consistent increases to reward long-term investors.

Medical Properties Trust offers consistent cash flows

Medical Properties Trust is one of the world's largest owners of hospitals with 434 in total that it leases across 30 states and 10 countries. The real estate investment trust (REIT) has raised its quarterly dividend for 10 consecutive years, including a 3.5% boost this year to $0.29 per share. At its current price, the yield is around 10.5% and its adjusted funds from operations (AFFO) payout ratio is 80.5%, well within the safety range for a REIT.

Concerned about the impact of rising interest rates on REITs, investors have pivoted away from them. Medical Properties' shares have fallen more than 54% so far this year. However, this also provides an opportunity for investors because Medical Properties' financials appear solid, meaning the stock could bounce back fast once interest rate increases cease. It is trading for only 5 times earnings, a steal considering the stock's high dividend.

The healthcare groups that rent their facilities from Medical Properties Trust were hit with higher labor costs this year. But now, thanks to cost-cutting measures and expanded reimbursement rates from Medicare, they are facing a brighter financial picture for 2023. While some of MPT's tenants have struggled, the company has little difficulty finding new tenants when needed.

In the third quarter, Medical Properties reported AFFO of $215.4 million, up 6.9% year over year, and AFFO per share of $0.36, up 5.9% over the same period a year ago. The company has stable cash flows thanks to an average weighted lease of 17.6 years.

Sanofi is doubling down on Dupixent's growth

French pharmaceutical company Sanofi's shares are down a little more than 3% so far this year. Like MPT, Sanofi trades at an attractive evaluation, roughly 17 times earnings. 

The company's dividend yield of around 2.67% is well above the S&P 500 average dividend yield of 1.82%. The company raised its quarterly dividend this year by 4% to $0.297 per share, the 28th consecutive year the company has increased its dividend. Despite those steady increases, Sanofi's cash dividend payout ratio is only 22.8%, leaving plenty of room for continued dividend growth.

That's especially true since the company's financial health is solid. In the third quarter, Sanofi reported revenue of $13.23 billion, up 19.7% year over year, with earnings per share (EPS) of $1.76, up 9.8% over the same period last year. 

The company's coffers have been buoyed by immunology blockbuster Dupixent, which has been approved to treat atopic dermatitis, asthma, and chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyposis. The drug has pulled in $6.24 billion through nine months this year, up 58% year over year.

The company's flu vaccines are also delivering strong returns, bringing in $1.994 billion in the quarter, up 32.4% over the same period last year.

Medtronic's size gives it advantages

Medtronic is one of the largest medical equipment companies in the world, aided by its 95,000 employees. It is coming off a tough fiscal 2023 second quarter that saw revenue fall by 3.3% year over year to $7.585 billion and EPS drop by 67% to $0.32 per share, which the company blamed on supply shortage issues and lower spending by hospitals. The stock has fallen more than 25% this year, but that has in turn lowered the company's valuation to roughly 24 times earnings, making the solid dividend company more affordable for investors.

Medtronic has consistently increased revenue every year since 2009 -- except when elective medical procedures ground to a halt in 2020 during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The company just raised its quarterly dividend by 8% this year to $0.68 per share, the 45th consecutive year it has boosted its dividend, and it offers a yield of around 3.5%. The company's payout ratio seems high at 72.5%, but the company's long-term contracts with hospitals give it consistent cash flow.

The company received approval in Europe for its Hugo RAS (robotic assisted surgery) system in October 2021 and Medtronic's revenue should get a boost if the Hugo is approved in the United States. It just began a clinical trial here to be used for urological surgical procedures.

Right now, Intuitive Surgical is the leader in RAS in the United States, but the opportunity for expansion is there. A report by DelveInsight put the robotic surgery market at $5.02 billion in 2021 and said it should enjoy a compound annual growth rate of 11.5% between 2021 and 2026, reaching a $9.8 billion market by that time.