Does a topsy-turvy stock market and reports of underutilized U.S. shipping ports make you nervous about buying, or even holding stocks? At times like these, it’s a lot easier to ignore the news flow when you have a portfolio full of dividend payers that deposit increasingly larger payments into your brokerage account.
Investors seeking reliable sources of passive income will be glad to know that Brookfield Infrastructure (BIPC 3.79%), Omega Healthcare Investors (OHI -3.94%), and Realty Income (O -0.47%) offer dividend yields above 4% at recent prices. Here’s why adding them to a portfolio now and holding them for the next couple of decades is a great move for many income-seeking investors.
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1. Brookfield Infrastructure
Brookfield Infrastructure is a leading infrastructure investor that owns utilities, pipelines, data centers, and heaps of transportation assets spread around the globe. It’s a dividend investor’s dream come true because the assets in its portfolio generate predictable cash flows thanks to long-term contracts and government-regulated pricing.
Infrastructure isn’t a high-growth business, but Brookfield Infrastructure has been able to raise its payout by 32.7% since 2020. At recent prices, the stock offers a juicy 4.5% yield, and I won’t be surprised if its dividend growth rate accelerates in the decades ahead.
With heaps of depreciating assets, funds from operations (FFO) is the preferred metric for measuring Brookfield Infrastructure’s ability to raise its dividend-paying commitment. Management recently reported first-quarter FFO that rose 12% year over year due to a combination of rate increases and acquisitions it made last year.
The company made growth capital expenditures that totaled $730 million in the first quarter. Despite the huge outlay, it still has $4.9 billion in liquidity. This is more than enough to continue running its time-tested strategy, which makes steady gains over the next couple of decades seem likely.
2. Omega Healthcare Investors
Omega Healthcare Investors is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that focuses mostly on skilled nursing and transitional healthcare facilities. With the other 30% of its portfolio made up of senior housing facilities, this stock is a relatively safe way to bet on an extremely reliable trend. From 2020 through 2023, the population aged 65 and older increased in all but one of America’s 387 metro areas, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Omega’s portfolio contains 978 operating facilities. About three-quarters are spread across 42 states, and the rest are in the U.K. Instead of operating its own assets, the REIT takes a hands-off approach and gets facility operators to sign net leases that transfer all the variable costs of building ownership to its tenants.
With rent raises written into long-term leases, Omega’s cash flows are generally predictable. A focus on older adults, though, made the COVID-19 pandemic extra challenging. Despite the turmoil, the REIT has held its dividend payout steady since 2019.
At recent prices, Omega Healthcare Investors offers a 7.2% yield that could rise significantly over the next few years. In 2025, management expects adjusted FFO to land in a range between $2.95 and $3.01 per share. That’s more than it needs to meet a dividend obligation currently set at $2.68 per share annually.
3. Realty Income
If a long track record of steady dividend raises excites you, Realty Income belongs in your portfolio. This net lease REIT has been raising its monthly dividend payout since starting out with a single Taco Bell restaurant over 50 years ago. At recent prices, it offers a big 5.7% yield.
Realty Income was founded to build a reliable real estate portfolio and maintain access to low-cost capital. It achieved reliability with industry-leading diversification in the most resilient corners of the economy. Convenience stores, service-oriented retail, and nondiscretionary retail make up the vast majority of its 15,621-building portfolio.
7-Eleven, followed by Dollar General and Walgreens, are Realty Income’s three largest tenants, but they’re only responsible for about 10% of annualized rent. With a diverse roster of well-heeled tenants, this is one of a handful of REITs with an A3 credit rating from Moody’s.
This April, Realty Income leveraged its outstanding credit rating to borrow $600 million at just 5.3% over the next 10 years. With plenty of low-cost capital and a market for commercial property that’s still largely untapped by net lease REITs, this is a great stock to buy now and hold for the next couple of decades.
