Dividend stocks are the ultimate safe play in the stock market. Even when a company's share price is faltering, or the market momentum is turning sour, you can always rely on a dividend to provide a consistent return -- either to reinvest in the market or to pay routine bills.
Among stock market sectors, tech stocks rarely pay a strong dividend because many of them are pouring their profits back into their companies, either expanding the business or making capital expenditure investments. Healthcare companies have plenty of R&D expenses of their own, but they can be a more reliable source of dividends.
Stocks in the healthcare sector of the S&P 500 have an average dividend yield of 1.8%, so if you're looking for healthcare stocks to buy that pay a great dividend, I'm going to want stocks with a dividend yield of more than 2.5%. Here are three good choices -- and they all reflect a different type of healthcare stock that you can fit into your portfolio.
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AbbVie
Illinois-based AbbVie (ABBV +0.06%) is a major pharmaceutical company best known for Humira, a drug that treats arthritis, Crohn's disease, psoriasis, and other ailments, as well as its cancer medication, Imbruvica, and immunology drugs Skyrizi and Rinvoq.
The company has a massive market capitalization of $385 billion, with more than $59 billion in revenue over the last 12 months.
NYSE: ABBV
Key Data Points
Revenue in the third quarter, just released on Oct. 31, showed $15.8 billion, up 9.1% from a year ago. The company got massive returns from Skyrizi, which generated $4.7 billion in revenue (up 46.8% from last year), and Rinvoq, which brought in $2.2 billion in revenue (up 35.3% from last year. Both of those gains helped make up for the drop in Humira revenue, which at $993 million was down 55.4% from last year. AbbVie lost exclusivity for its Humira drug in 2023, so the slower sales were expected.
AbbVie stock is up 20% this year, and investors also get a 3.1% dividend yield for holding AbbVie stock. The company announced it is increasing its dividend from $1.64 per share to $1.73 per share -- a 5.5% jump -- payable on Feb. 17, 2026, to shareholders of record as of Jan. 16, 2026.
UnitedHealth Group
UnitedHealth Group (UNH +0.85%) isn't having a strong year like AbbVie. The stock is down 34% so far this year, having taken a huge drop in May that it hasn't yet recovered from.
That's OK. If you're looking to buy an outstanding healthcare stock while it's on sale, UnitedHealth Group is an integrated healthcare company in the early stages of a turnaround.
The company's stock dropped after it failed to meet expectations in the first quarter, and the company acknowledged that it misjudged medical claims for the year by $6.5 billion, including its Medicare portfolio and its commercial business of employer plans and Affordable Care Act plans.
NYSE: UNH
Key Data Points
There's little that UnitedHealth Group can do about 2025, but it's changing its Medicare Advantage benefits for 2026 and working with Medicare to adjust its pricing in 2026 and 2027 to improve its margins.
The third quarter showed some improvement -- revenue of $113.2 billion was up 12% from a year ago, and the company increased its full-year outlook to $16.25 on adjusted earnings per share, up $0.25 from its previous guidance.
UnitedHealth Group offers a dividend yield of 2.6%, and I'm expecting a much better stock price performance in 2026.
CVS Health
Last up, we have CVS Health (CVS +0.43%), which, since its acquisition of Aetna, has evolved into an interesting healthcare company with its fingers in retail, insurance, and primary care. In the third quarter alone, CVS filled 461.4 million prescriptions, processed 475.6 million pharmacy claims, and served 26.7 million people in its commercial and government healthcare plans.
NYSE: CVS
Key Data Points
The Rhode Island-based company saw strong earnings in the third quarter, with revenue of $102.8 billion, up 7.8% from a year ago. Adjusted operating income of $3.45 billion was up 35% from a year ago, and earnings per share of $1.60 was an improvement from $1.09. The company recorded revenue gains across multiple business units.
|
Period |
Pharmacy and Consumer Wellness |
Health Services |
Health Care Benefits |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Q3 2024 |
$32.2 billion |
$44.1 billion |
$33 billion |
|
Q4 2024 |
$36.2 billion |
$49.3 billion |
$36 billion |
|
% Increase |
12.4% |
11.7% |
9.1% |
Source: Company filings.
CVS issued full-year guidance for at least $397 billion in revenue with adjusted EPS in a range of $6.55 to $6.65.
CVS stock is up a whopping 74% this year, and the company also pays a fabulous 3.4% dividend yield, showing that this healthcare dividend stock has some serious momentum right now.
