5 Top Dividend Stocks Passive Income Investors Should Buy in March

Investing

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Published: March 10, 2024 2:15 pm

Investors love dividend stocks because they provide dependable income and give investors a great opportunity for solid total return. Total return includes interest, capital gains, dividends, and distributions realized over time. In other words, the total return on an investment or a portfolio consists of income and stock appreciation.
At 24/7 Wall St., we always remind our readers about the impact total return has on portfolios because it is one of the best ways to improve the chances of overall investing success. Again, total return is the combined increase in a stock’s value plus dividends.
Most dividend investors seek solid passive income streams from quality dividend stocks. Passive income is a steady stream of unearned income that doesn’t require active traditional work. Shared ideas for earning passive income include investments, real estate, or side hustles.
We screened our 24/7 Wall Street equity dividend stock research database for quality stocks that pay reliable dividends and found five companies that passive income investors should buy in March. All are Buy-rated by top Wall Street firms.

Altria

Altria also owns over 10% of Anheuser-Busch InBev.
This maker of tobacco products offers value investors a great entry point now and a rich 9.43% dividend. Altria Group Inc. (NYSE: MO) manufactures and sells smokable and oral tobacco products in the United States through its subsidiaries.
The company provides cigarettes primarily under the Marlboro brand:

Cigars and pipe tobacco, principally under the Black & Mild brand
Moist smokeless tobacco and snus products under the Copenhagen, Skoal, Red Seal, and Husky brands
on! oral nicotine pouches

It sells its tobacco products primarily to wholesalers, including distributors and large retail organizations, such as chain stores.
Altria owns over 10% of Anheuser-Busch InBev (NYSE: BUD), the world’s largest brewer.
3M

The legacy industrial provides everything from tape to highway signs
This top company could jump with an economic pick-up and pay a very rich 6.52% dividend. 3M Company (NYSE: MMM) is a diversified technology company worldwide.
It operates through four segments:

Safety and Industrial
Transportation and Electronics
Health Care
Consumer

The Safety and Industrial segment offers:

Industrial abrasives and finishing for metalworking applications
Auto body repair solutions;
Closure systems for personal hygiene products
Masking and packaging materials
Electrical products and materials for construction and maintenance
Power distribution and electrical original equipment manufacturers;
Structural adhesives and tapes
Respiratory, hearing, eye, and fall protection solutions
Natural and color-coated mineral granules for shingles

The 3M Transportation and Electronics segment provides Ceramic solutions;

Attachment tapes
Films
Sound and temperature management for vehicles
Premium large-format graphic films for advertising and fleet signage
Light management films and electronics assembly solutions
Packaging and interconnection solutions
Reflective signage for highway and vehicle safety

Italy, the company’s Healthcare segment offers:

Food safety indicator solutions
Healthcare procedure coding and reimbursement software
Skin, wound care, and infection prevention products and solutions
Dentistry and orthodontic solutions
Filtration and purification systems.

The Consumer segment provides:

Consumer bandages
Braces, supports, and respirators
Home cleaning products
Retail abrasives and paint accessories
Car care DIY products;
Picture hanging and consumer air quality solutions
Stationery products.

It offers its products through e-commerce and traditional wholesalers, retailers, jobbers, distributors, and dealers.
Bristol-Myers Squibb
Bristol-Myers Squibb is one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies and is in the Fortune 500.
This top company remains a solid pharmaceutical stock to own long-term, offering an outstanding entry point and a massive 4.50% dividend. Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE: BMY) discovers, develops, licenses, manufactures, and markets pharmaceutical products worldwide.
The company offers products in hematology, oncology, cardiovascular, and immunology therapeutic classes.
The company’s products include:

Revlimid, an oral immunomodulatory drug for the treatment of multiple myeloma
Opdivo for anti-cancer indications
Eliquis, an oral inhibitor indicated for the reduction in risk of stroke/systemic embolism in NVAF and for the treatment of DVT/PE
Orencia for adult patients with active RA and psoriatic arthritis, as well as reducing signs and symptoms in pediatric patients with active polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis

The company also provides:

Sprycel for the treatment of Philadelphia chromosome-positive chronic myeloid leukemia
Yervoy for the treatment of patients with unresectable or metastatic melanoma
Abraxane, a protein-bound chemotherapy product
Implicit for the treatment of multiple myeloma
Reblozyl for the treatment of anemia in adult patients with beta-thalassemia

Comerica
Comerica Bank, a regional commercial bank with 413 branches in the U.S.
Based in Dallas, this fast-growing banking center giant pays a substantial 5.45% dividend. Comerica, Inc. (NYSE: CMA) provides various financial products and services.
The company operates through:

Commercial banking
Retail banking
Wealth management
Finance segments

The Commercial Bank segment offers:

Commercial loans and lines of credit
Deposits
Cash management
Capital market products
International trade finance
Letters of credit
Foreign exchange management services
Loan syndication services
Payment and card services for small and middle-market businesses, multinational corporations, and governmental entities

The Retail Bank segment provides:

Personal financial services, such as consumer lending
Consumer deposit gathering
Mortgage loan origination and various
Consumer products that include deposit accounts, installment loans, credit cards, student loans, home equity lines of credit
Residential mortgage loans and commercial products and services to micro-businesses.

The Wealth Management segment offers products and services comprising:

Fiduciary
Private banking
Retirement
Investment management and advisory
Investment banking and brokerage services
Annuity products and life, disability, and long-term care insurance products

The Finance segment engages in the securities portfolio and asset and liability management activities.
Comerica operates in:

Texas
California
Michigan
Arizona
Florida
Canada
Mexico

Dominion Energy
Dominion Energy operates in 16 states across the U.S., offering affordable energy to more than 7 million customers.
Many of the Wall Street firms we cover are still very positive on utilities, and this company pays a strong 5.56% dividend.
Dominion Energy, Inc. (NYSE: D) operates through four segments:

Dominion Energy Virginia,
Gas Distribution, 
Dominion Energy South Carolina, and
Contracted Assets. 

The Dominion Energy Virginia segment generates, transmits, and distributes regulated electricity to residential, commercial, industrial, and governmental customers in Virginia and North Carolina.
The Gas Distribution segment engages in

Regulated natural gas gathering
Transportation
Distribution and sales activities 
Distributes nonregulated renewable natural gas

This segment serves residential, commercial, and industrial customers.
The Dominion Energy South Carolina segment:

Generates
Transmits
Distributes electricity and natural gas to residential, commercial, and industrial customers in South Carolina. 

The company’s portfolio of assets included approximately:

30.2 gigawatts of electric generating capacity
10,500 miles of electric transmission lines
85,600 miles of electric distribution lines
94,200 miles of gas distribution lines
Dominion serves approximately 7 million customers. 

 
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Read more:

Investing, BMY, BUD, CMA, D, MMM, MO, 3M Company, Altria big dividend, Altria Group, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Comerica Incorporated, Dominion Energy Inc., passive income, Passive income dividend stocks

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