The Best Dividend Stocks Today Could Also Double Your Money

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There are two essential ways to make life-changing wealth from a stock.

You can profit in the long term as the company grows its bottom line and the stock price goes up. Or you can get that profit delivered right to your hand in the form of a quarterly check.

These are the best versions of growth and dividend investing. Many people think you have to choose whether to invest in growth or dividend stocks. But that’s a common “all or nothing” fallacy…

There are plenty of dividend stocks out there with growth prospects. And there are plenty of growth stocks that also pay nice dividends.

A great thing about the stock market is that you can own fast-growing companies that have dividend yields greater than the 10-year Treasury bond.

You can have the best of both worlds, and you do not have to sacrifice anything.

For example, today’s best dividend stocks are poised to capitalize on real estate and the budding renewable energy market.

We have an equity investor with a growing tech portfolio, a renewable energy company growing profits 40% annually, and an opportunity to collect rent in the form of a dividend.

Here’s that first one…

This Dividend Stock Has Hands in Everything

Private equity and alternative asset manager Blackstone Group Inc. (NYSE: BX) is a gainer and a dividend payer. The company is expected to continue growing at a very high rate, with analysts projecting 34% growth this year and more than 15% a year increases on average for the next five years.

The current dividend yield is 3.46%.

Blackstone's dividend policy is to pay out about 85% of its distributable earnings every quarter. When the company does better, your dividend can go higher.

Blackstone is not just a private equity firm. It is also one of the largest owners of commercial real estate in the world today. It also invests in direct lending markets that help finance small and middle-market companies.

The high returns from Blackstone's private equity and real estate funds have driven returns for many local governments, foundations, and educational endowment portfolios over the last four decades.

We already have a considerable pension shortfall in this country. Without the returns from Blackstone's funds, it would be worse.

With interest rates staying low for at least the next several years, both individual and institutional investors will continue to look toward Blackstone for solutions.

Blackstone President Jon Gray recently said that with an eye on the future, the firm has been orienting its investments toward faster-growing areas, such as life sciences and those connected to the digital economy, including global logistics, digital payments, and enterprise software.

As one of the largest warehouses and industrial real estate owners, It is already a huge player in the supply chain and e-commerce markets.

The 1,100-Megawatt Dividend Stock

Renewable energy will be one of the fastest-growing energy sources for the next three to four decades at least. Eventually, it will replace carbon-based forms of energy as the primary source to meet global power needs.

NextEra Energy Partners LP (NYSE: NEP) is a growth-oriented limited partnership formed by NextEra Energy Inc. (NYSE: NEE), a Florida Power and Light's parent company.

NextEra Energy Partners acquires, manages, and owns contracted clean energy projects with stable, long-term cash flows.

WARNING: It’s one of the most traded stocks on the market every day – make sure it’s nowhere near your portfolio. WATCH NOW.

NextEra Energy Resources will be able to take advantage of the disruptive factors reshaping the energy industry. In 2020, the company acquired interests in a nearly 1,100 MW portfolio of renewables, including the partnership’s first battery storage project, from Energy Resources. It also completed the first three organic growth investments, including repowering of 275 megawatts of wind projects.

Analysts expect the company to grow its profits by more than 40% annually for the next five years as the use of green energy continues to explode.

The dividend yield is right around 3%, and management has said they expect to increase that payout by around 12% to 15% per year.

The Best Dividend Stock in Real Estate

Essential Properties Realty Trust Inc. (NYSE: EPRT) is a real estate investment trust that will play a massive role in reopening America. The REIT owns free-standing single-tenant properties whose tenants include fast food restaurants, early childhood educational companies, medical and dental offices, and convenience stores.

Essential Properties has 1,000 properties across the United States and an occupancy rate of 99.4%. The properties are leased on a triple net basis, so tenants pay for all maintenance, insurance, and taxes. The leases are long-term in nature, and the average lease still has 14 years before it expires.

Many of its tenants have been considered essential throughout the crisis. Ninety-seven percent of the properties are open for business, and about 90% of rents due are being collected.

The 3% that are closed are primarily in the health and fitness, movie theaters, and entertainment industries.

Essential Properties Trust is flush with cash as it did a large stock offering just before the pandemic arrived in the United States last year. It also raised $210 million in the third quarter, including an overnight stock offering that raised $184 million of net proceeds.

The company has almost $600 million in liquidity, which it is using to make acquisitions at bargain prices.

So far, it spent $149 million this quarter and another $73 million in the fourth quarter.

The stock is yielding 4.56% right now. Analysts expect Essential Properties to grow its earnings by almost 35% annually for the next five years.