Dividend stocks can give you recurring cash flow to help pay bills or save for the future. The downside is that most of them pay every three months. However, you can accelerate the rate of your dividend payments by investing in multiple stocks that pay dividends at different intervals. By doing so, you can keep the cash flow coming every month.
Here's a look at how much you'd have to invest to collect $100 each month from the following trio of high-yielding stocks: AT&T (T 1.78%), TC Energy (TRP 0.29%), and Viatris (VTRS 1.26%).
1. AT&T
Telecom giant AT&T is a leaner and simpler business to invest in since it spun off WarnerMedia last year, which is now part of Warner Bros. Discovery. Without the headaches of the streaming business and focusing just on its core telecom operations, it makes for a safer dividend stock.
This year, the company anticipates that its wireless service revenue will grow by at least 4%, and its adjusted earnings per share will be between $2.35 and $2.45. That's well above the rate of its quarterly dividend of $0.2775, which on an annual basis costs $1.11 per share.
At the stock's current price, the dividend yield is 5.8%. To collect a $100 payment every time AT&T pays a dividend (every February, May, August, and November), you would need to invest roughly $6,900 into the stock right now.
For long-term investors, this can be a great dividend stock to buy and hold as AT&T is one of the top telecom companies in the country, and it trades at just 8 times its future earnings (based on analyst expectations).
2. TC Energy
TC Energy is a Canadian-based energy infrastructure company that owns pipelines that help transport oil and gas throughout Canada and the U.S. The company has billions lined up in capital projects that will help it generate more growth in the future and grow its dividend.
The company has also been increasing its payouts for 23 consecutive years and expects to be able to continue to raise its dividend at an annual rate between 3% and 5% in the future.
Its yield is well above the S&P 500 average of 1.7%; with TC Energy, investors can earn more than 7%. The stock is trading near its 52-week low as oil prices have been declining in recent months. But with news of OPEC slashing production, which will likely push oil prices up, oil and gas stocks could soon be hot buys again, and that could make buying TC Energy a great option.
On a 7% yield, investors would need to invest just over $5,700 to collect $100 in dividends each quarter. TC Energy makes payments every January, April, July, and October.
3. Viatris
Drugmaker Viatris is another top dividend stock to own. Investors haven't been too excited about the healthcare stock as it has more than $18 billion in long-term debt on its books (versus current assets of just $10.6 billion), plus its top line has been underwhelming as net revenue of $16.2 billion was down 9% last year (2% at an operational level, when excluding the impact of foreign exchange).
But the company is working on building up its newly created eye care business after acquiring Family Life Sciences and Oyster Point Pharma earlier this year, which could lead to more growth opportunities in the future. And in the meantime, the dividend itself looks safe as Viatris is expecting at least $2.3 billion in free cash flow in 2023 -- it paid out less than $600 million in dividend payments last year.
Viatris has the lowest yield on this list, but at 5%, it's still a good dividend to hold in your portfolio. If you invested $8,000 in the stock, that would be enough to ensure you're collecting $100 in dividends each time the company makes a payment, which is every March, June, September, and December.
In total, to collect a $100 dividend from each one of these stocks every time they make a payment would require an investment of approximately $20,600.
