8 Stocks That Pay You to Own Them

The COVID-19 pandemic upset the ability of many companies to maintain their normal course of business let alone make dividend payments. Yet a number of companies continued making shareholder payouts, indicating they still had a solid financial foundation despite the tumult occurring in the world around them.

Investors looking to generate passive income while enjoying the benefits of capital appreciation would do well to examine more closely the following eight stocks that pay you to own them.

Even better, not only do some of them pay you quarterly, as most dividend-paying companies do, but some actually pay their dividends monthly, giving you a consistent cash flow source.

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.

As Mark Twain once famously observed, "Buy land, they're not making it anymore." Real estate investment trust (REIT) Gladstone Land (NASDAQ: LAND) has taken that to heart, acquiring over 14,500 acres of farmland last year, giving it over 101,000 acres total from 137 farms across several states.

That acreage, valued at over $1 billion, helps support steady dividend growth, with its payout currently yielding 2.5% annually. Gladstone has raised its dividend for six consecutive years, and as a REIT, it pays out 95% of its earnings as a dividend.

ALSO READ: 3 Stocks to Buy With Dividends Yielding More Than 4%

Spice maker McCormick (NYSE: MKC) could add some flavor to your portfolio by adding a good balance of consumer brands and food service offerings. It owns some of the most well-known brands in seasonings and sauces, including Frank's RedHot, Old Bay, and Zatarain's, as well as its own full spice rack.

Founded in 1889, McCormick has paid investors a dividend every year for the past 97 years and has raised the payout for 35 straight years, making it a member of that rarefied group of stocks known as Dividend Aristocrats, or companies that are included in the S&P 500 stock index that have increased their dividends for at least 25 years.

Pembina Pipeline (NYSE: PBA) is an oil and gas pipeline operator that is also one of those stocks that pays its dividend monthly, rather than quarterly, and it has increased the payout for the last nine years, even during the pandemic.

Although its business was disrupted by the global crisis as demand for oil and gas plunged and prices dropped, there remains strong, latent demand for fossil fuels. Pembina has survived the turmoil and remains financially sound because it is a conservatively managed business, delaying a number of new development projects worth several billion dollars until conditions improve. That should occur in the near future, and investors could realize Pembina is a pipeline to further growth and profits.

Because Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) is going up against difficult comparisons to last year when consumer stockpiling of basic goods ran rampant during the pandemic, it's going to look as though the consumer products giant is experiencing difficulty. That's not the case, as growth is still occurring, just not as strongly as happened during the crisis, and the company continues to produce robust profits and cash flows.

Procter & Gamble also just raised its dividend by 10%, the 65th consecutive year it has done so, while making a payout to shareholders for over 130 years. As the owner of some of the best-known household brands on the market -- particularly those that resounded with consumers during the COVID-19 outbreak, such as Bounty, Mr Clean, and Microban -- the company should be paying you to own it for many more years to come.

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.

Commercial REIT Realty Income (NYSE: O) is another of those dividend payers that makes its payout monthly, not quarterly.

It also holds a special place among income investors looking for steady revenue streams as it has raised its dividend 107 times since it began paying one 52 years ago, while making well over 600 consecutive monthly payments since its founding.

Realty Income specializes in long-term triple net leases, or leases that require the tenant to pay for property insurance, maintenance, and taxes. Because the leases are typically long-term in nature, with the average being almost 10 years long and spread across 300 companies in 50 different industries, it offers investors more stability than they might otherwise expect from the commercial lease market.

With the dividend yielding over 4% annually, it's a rich reward for those seeking regular income.

ALSO READ: Like Dividends? I Bet You'll Love These 3 Stocks

SL Green Realty (NYSE: SLG) is New York City's largest owner of office real estate, a REIT that holds interests in 84 buildings totaling 37.8 million square feet, including ownership interests in 28.3 million square feet of Manhattan buildings and 8.7 million square feet securing debt and preferred equity investments.

New York City arguably has some of the most valuable office space in the world, but only now is the market there starting to revive from the prolonged impact of the pandemic. In fact, Mayor Bill de Blasio says the city won't reopen at 100% until July.

SL Green has had to offer new tenants cheaper rents to lure them in and give discounts -- or free rent, even -- to existing tenants. But the REIT says the worst is behind it and it is looking for New York City to bounce back strong.

And SL Green also pays a monthly dividend, which currently yields 4.9% for an investor's troubles.

You may be noticing a theme here: Stag Industrial (NYSE: STAG) is yet another REIT that makes a monthly payout. But instead of investing in commercial real estate, Stag has staked out a niche in the single-tenant light industrial market.

That means single-tenant light warehouses, distribution centers, and manufacturing facilities -- all the things that are booming during the meteoric rise of e-commerce retail -- are in high demand. In fact, Amazon.com is its biggest tenant but represents less than 4% of its rental revenue.

Because of that diversity, it faces little risk if one of them (even Amazon, as unlikely as it might be) went belly-up.

The REIT's payout yields 4% annually, providing income investors a steady diet of dividend payments, even at a time when so many other companies cut or suspended them.

ALSO READ: 3 Dividend Investing Tips That Could Earn You Thousands

At 1.3%, Target's (NYSE: TGT) dividend might not yield as much as the REITs we've covered, but the retailer makes up for that with the surety of its business and the reliability of its payout.

As one of the favored retailers that was allowed to remain open and prosper during the pandemic when its specialty retail rivals were forced to close, many times bankrupting them, Target rose to the challenge of meeting the influx of consumer demand. Perhaps one of the most important channels was its online business, which saw record growth, especially over the holidays, and is expected to continue benefiting from changing consumer preferences on how they shop.

It was late to the e-commerce game, but today it stands as a premier player in the space. It is also on the precipice of becoming a Dividend King, or a stock that has raised its payout for 50 straight years or more. If it follows through again this June (when it typically announces its payout hikes), Target will ascend the throne and join a small, elite group of stocks annually raising their dividends for five decades or more.

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.

Dividends juice the returns investors enjoy through capital appreciation. The late mutual fund giant John Bogle once noted that "reinvested dividend income accounted for approximately 95% of the compound long-term return earned by the companies in the S&P 500."

Buying stocks that pay you to own them is a classic way to beat the Street and pad your retirement accounts for long-term financial health.

John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Rich Duprey owns shares of Realty Income. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Amazon. The Motley Fool recommends McCormick, PEMBINA PIPELINE CORPORATION, and Stag Industrial and recommends the following options: long January 2022 $1920.0 calls on Amazon and short January 2022 $1940.0 calls on Amazon. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.