The Best Dividend Stocks to Buy and Hold Forever

It's not terribly difficult to find a decent dividend-paying stock. Finding one you can buy and hold forever, however, is a different story.

The underlying company must offer a product or service that will always be in demand. And that company's culture must be one that ensures perpetual success. These two standards will exclude most prospects.

Such dividend stocks are out there though, even if they're few and far between.

Here's a closer look at three of them you can feel good about adding to your "forever" portfolio today.

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1. Coca-Cola

Yes, Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) shares fell following the release of the company's fourth-quarter results. Although per-share earnings of $0.58 topped analysts' estimates of $0.56, revenue of $11.82 billion came up slightly short of expectations.

It wasn't just the revenue miss responsible for the stock's weakness, however. Guidance for organic revenue growth of between 4% and 5% and per-share earnings growth of 7% to 8% wasn't quite what investors were hoping for either. March's upcoming switch to a new CEO -- current Chief Operating Officer Henrique Braun -- also adds an element of uncertainty to Coca-Cola's future.

For income-minded long-term investors though, these are trivial details. Coca-Cola and all of its beverage brands like Gold Peak tea, Minute Maid juice, Dasani water, and Barq's root beer (just to name a few) are as endearing as they are enduring. It doesn't really matter who's at the helm.

Moreover, while guidance for the year now underway may have been a bit of a letdown, sales and earnings are still outpacing inflation, supporting what's grown into a 63-year uninterrupted stretch of yearly per-share dividend payout increases. You'd be stepping into a forward-looking yield of 2.7%.

2. Verizon

With the United States' mobile phone market being as crowded and competitive as it is (Pew Research reports 98% of the nation's adults now own a mobile phone) clearly there's not a great deal of potential for capital growth with a stake in Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ). Yet what this telecom giant lacks in raw growth firepower, it more than makes up for in the form of income. The stock's forward-looking yield currently stands right around 6%. You'd be hard-pressed to find better from a name with comparable risk.

And there's longevity here to be sure.

While it's not a statistic to be proud of, a 2024 survey performed by Harmony Healthcare IT suggests the average American spends more than five hours per day looking at their mobile phone. Right or wrong, they're not about to let go of their handheld connection to the outside world now.

3. Realty Income

Finally, add Realty Income (NYSE: O) to your list of dividend stocks to buy and hold forever.

It's a real estate investment trust, or REIT for short. That just means it's a landlord, and passes along the majority of its rent-based profits to shareholders in the form of dividends. Realty Income's focus is on brick-and-mortar retailing. Its top tenants include 7-Eleven, Dollar General, FedEx, Walmart, and Home Depot.

It sounds scary, given the e-commerce-driven headwind that all brick-and-mortar retailers seem to be facing now.

Realty Income is largely sidestepping this challenge, however, by serving the retail industry's most resilient names. Proof of this resiliency lies in the fact that this REIT's occupancy rate currently stands at 98.7%, and that it's now raised its monthly dividend payment -- yes, monthly -- for 31 consecutive years. Newcomers will be stepping into a yield of just over 5.1%.

James Brumley has positions in Coca-Cola. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Home Depot, Realty Income, and Walmart. The Motley Fool recommends FedEx and Verizon Communications. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.