While it is true that most investors look for stocks that can generate significant returns, it is also true that they are almost always on the lookout for such stocks which pay out dividends. Those stocks are generally held for the long term. These are companies that are generally profitable and have long-term potential and hence, are able to give back some of its cash to investors on a regular basis. Here is a look at two dividend-paying stocks that investors could look into at this point.
1. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)
Microsoft is quite simply the biggest company in the world in terms of market cap at this point. More importantly, despite its current size, the company is expected to continue to grow in the future and grow its profits accordingly. The company has a range of divisions starting from the intelligent cloud, gaming, personal computing and business processes among others.
Microsoft Office and XBOX gaming consoles are some of the Microsoft products which most people are familiar with. Additionally, Microsoft is now a major force in the cloud computing segment thanks to Azure. All these businesses generate billions of dollars in profits every year. In the first quarter, the company generated revenues of as much as $2.53 trillion, and that reflected year-on-year growth of 22%.
Additionally, the company gave 0.4% of its valuation or around $10.9 billion back to shareholders. Out of that $4.7 billion was made up of dividends and the rest consisted of stock repurchase. Anyone who is looking for a dividend-paying stock could do well to keep an eye on it.
It may not be as famous a name as Microsoft but Accenture remains one of the biggest information technology consulting firms in the world and commands a market cap in excess of $200 billion at this point.
The company has been growing steadily over the years and it completed its fiscal year in August this year and managed to record strong growth. The revenues grew by 24% year on year and on the other hand earnings went up 14%. More importantly, the company boosted its dividend payout for the year to as much as 10% and gave back a staggering $1.47 billion to shareholders. In the 2022 fiscal year, the company has projected growth of 20% and hence, that could lead to handsome dividend payouts.
