15 Dividend Stocks You Can Count On for Decades

Dividends are hard to beat, if you're looking to build wealth through investments in stocks. Not only can you expect regular payments of cash from your healthy and growing dividend payers, but you can also expect those payouts to be increased over time -- often keeping up with or surpassing inflation rates. Better still, the stock prices themselves are likely to grow over time.

Here then are 15 respectable dividend payers to consider for your portfolio.

5 Winning Stocks Under $49
We hear it over and over from investors, “I wish I had bought Amazon or Netflix when they were first recommended by the Motley Fool. I’d be sitting on a gold mine!” And it’s true. And while Amazon and Netflix have had a good run, we think these 5 other stocks are screaming buys. And you can buy them now for less than $49 a share! Simply click here to learn how to get your copy of “5 Growth Stocks Under $49” for FREE for a limited time only.

AT&T (NYSE: T) needs little introduction, as its history goes way back to the 1876 invention of the telephone by Alexander Graham Bell and the formation of the Bell Telephone Company a year later -- which became the parent company of AT&T. The company grew robustly, was eventually deemed too monopolistic and broken up, and has reunified to a great degree in more recent years. The company rakes in more than $170 billion annually and pays a dividend that recently yielded a hefty 8.21%. Some question whether that's sustainable, but even if it were halved, it would be a standout dividend.

ALSO READ: The Best Dividend Stocks to Buy for the Fourth Quarter (and Beyond)

AT&T competitor Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) sports a larger market value, recently weighing in at $220 billion versus AT&T's $190 billion. And while its dividend yield isn't quite as fat, recently at 4.9%, it's still quite solid. It rakes in more than $130 billion annually, and many see a rosy future for it as its 5G network rolls out, driving more profits.

Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) has been in the news far more than usual in recent years, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the biotech's vaccine to protect against it. Even without its coronavirus vaccine business, Pfizer has a lot going for it -- in a recent quarter, for example, operational revenue grew 10% year over year, excluding the vaccine. The vaccine has delivered a windfall to the company, though, and some wonder what companies Pfizer might acquire with it. Its pipeline is rich, recently featuring a total of 100 projects -- 23 in phase 3 of development -- and if just a few of those are eventually approved and sell well or become blockbuster treatments, Pfizer shareholders will be rewarded. Meanwhile, the stock recently yielded 3.8%.

Realty Income (NYSE: O) is a real estate investment trust (REIT), meaning that it invests in real estate properties and is required to pay out at least 90% of its earnings in dividend form. It owns more than 6,700 properties (with a focus on retailers) and offers long-term leases to clients. Its biggest clients are 7-Eleven, Walgreens, Dollar General, and FedEx. While most dividend payers pay out quarterly, this company pays monthly, and it has made more than 600 consecutive monthly dividend payments -- that's more than 50 years' worth. Realty Income's dividend recently yielded 4%.

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International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM) is another well-known blue chip company with a long history, having been incorporated back in 1911 as the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company. It has gone through boom times and tough times, reinventing itself along the way and most recently focusing to a great degree on artificial intelligence and hybrid cloud computing. (It's spinning off its slower-growing business as a new company, Kyndryl.) With a market value recently topping $100 billion, the company pays a dividend that recently yielded 4.5%.

5 Winning Stocks Under $49
We hear it over and over from investors, “I wish I had bought Amazon or Netflix when they were first recommended by the Motley Fool. I’d be sitting on a gold mine!” And it’s true. And while Amazon and Netflix have had a good run, we think these 5 other stocks are screaming buys. And you can buy them now for less than $49 a share! Simply click here to learn how to get your copy of “5 Growth Stocks Under $49” for FREE for a limited time only.

Like Pfizer, Merck (NYSE: MRK) is a venerable pharmaceutical company -- one that's also involved in fighting COVID-19. In Merck's case, it has a new oral treatment for those with the disease that seems to be quite effective. It's awaiting approval by the Food and Drug Administration and is likely to sell well. Pfizer also has an oral treatment in the works, but it's possible that both could coexist peacefully and profitably. Meanwhile, Merck has many other irons in the fire, of course -- its pipeline recently featured 53 drugs in phase 2 clinical trials and 24 in phase 3. Merck's stock recently sported a dividend yield of 3.4%.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ: WBA) is a drugstore titan with a market value topping $40 billion, close to half a million employees, and more than 21,000 stores in some 25 countries. Its stock recently yielded a hefty 3.9%. The company is moving beyond being just a drugstore specialist, as it expands its VillageMD concept, aiming to offer many full-service primary care clinics. It's aiming to have several hundred VillageMD locations, and so far has several dozen.

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You may think of Scotch Tape or Post-its when you think of 3M (NYSE: MMM), but it has many, many brands and businesses under its roof -- such as Scotch-Brite, Scotchgard, Nexcare, Ace, Filtrete, Bondo, and more. It makes all kinds of things, from safety equipment such as masks, to cleaning tools, adhesives, and food-safety testing equipment. The company's dividend recently yielded 3.3%.

Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK), with a market value recently topping $75 billion, pays a dividend that recently yielded 3.9%. In its own words, it's "a leading energy company focused on electric power and gas distribution operations, and other energy services in the Americas -- including a growing portfolio of renewable energy assets." It provides electricity to close to 8 million customers in six states, and natural gas to more than 1.6 million customers.

AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV) is another pharmaceutical business with a lot of impressive numbers, such as roughly 48,000 employees worldwide, annual revenue topping $50 billion, a market value near $200 billion, and a dividend that recently yielded 4.8%. In a 2020 impact report, it noted that it treats more than 60 conditions with more than 30 brands, and that it treats more than 57 million people annually. It also noted about 75 programs in late-stage or midstage clinical development, and about 60 in early stages.

5 Winning Stocks Under $49
We hear it over and over from investors, “I wish I had bought Amazon or Netflix when they were first recommended by the Motley Fool. I’d be sitting on a gold mine!” And it’s true. And while Amazon and Netflix have had a good run, we think these 5 other stocks are screaming buys. And you can buy them now for less than $49 a share! Simply click here to learn how to get your copy of “5 Growth Stocks Under $49” for FREE for a limited time only.

Networking and technology specialist Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) sports a market value recently topping $230 billion and a dividend yielding 2.7%. The company points out that some 85% of internet traffic travels across its systems. Cisco offers not just switches and routers but also software, security services, collaboration services (such as Webex), data protection, hybrid cloud solutions, and Internet of Things (IoT) offerings, among other things.

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There's a good chance you have an Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) product in your pocket or handbag, and one or more at home -- and perhaps one strapped to your wrist as well. The company has built a huge and sticky ecosystem, leading it to a market value recently topping $2.3 trillion. Its dividend yield was recently just 0.6%, but it has been upping that payout by an annual average of 9% over the past five years. At some point, it's reasonable to expect that it will be generating more cash than it can spend, leading to greater dividend payouts. Until then, there will still be stock price appreciation for long-term investors to hope for.

Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) is another familiar titan, this time in the coffee arena. With a recent market value topping $130 billion and a dividend yielding 1.76%, it offers an appealing investing proposition as it expands across the globe. It already boasts more than 30,000 locations worldwide -- with about half in the U.S. -- and it's looking to grow more internationally (including in China).

The Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF (NYSEMKT: VYM) is not exactly a dividend-paying stock. It's an ETF -- an exchange-traded fund -- a fund that trades like a stock, meaning that you can buy as little as a single share or as much as you want, and you can do so throughout the trading day without having to wait until trading closes for the fund's latest value to be calculated. It's on this list because, for many investors, it might be a preferable dividend-focused investment instead of individual stocks. It recently yielded a solid 2.8%. And like most Vanguard ETFs, its annual fee is minuscule -- just 0.06%.

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The Vanguard Dividend Appreciation Index ETF (NYSEMKT: VIG), another ETF, is an index fund tracking the NASDAQ US Select Dividend Achievers Index, switching soon to the S&P Dividend Growers Index. Both indexes feature companies that have increased their payouts for at least 10 consecutive years. The ETF recently yielded 1.56%. Its overall average annual return has been about 10% over the past 15 years, and more than 14% over the past three, five, and 10 years. Its low annual fee is another plus -- just 0.06%.

5 Winning Stocks Under $49
We hear it over and over from investors, “I wish I had bought Amazon or Netflix when they were first recommended by the Motley Fool. I’d be sitting on a gold mine!” And it’s true. And while Amazon and Netflix have had a good run, we think these 5 other stocks are screaming buys. And you can buy them now for less than $49 a share! Simply click here to learn how to get your copy of “5 Growth Stocks Under $49” for FREE for a limited time only.

These are 15 stocks worth considering for your portfolio, but they're far from the only promising dividend payers out there. As you hunt for your dividend-paying stocks, be sure to factor in dividend growth rates in your assessments, because a relatively low dividend yield today might be a far more generous one in a few years, if the growth rate is steep.

Selena Maranjian owns shares of AT&T, AbbVie, Apple, Realty Income, and Starbucks. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Apple, FedEx, Starbucks, Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF, and Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF. The Motley Fool recommends 3M, Duke Energy, and Verizon Communications and recommends the following options: long March 2023 $120 calls on Apple, short March 2023 $130 calls on Apple, and short October 2021 $120 calls on Starbucks. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.