Passive income from share investing is never guaranteed. When crises emerge, even the most dependable of dividend stocks can cut, suspend or cancel shareholder payouts.
Yet over the long term, sourcing a second income from shares has proved a winning strategy for millions of investors. Two dividend stocks I think are worth serious attention today are Primary Health Properties (LSE:PHP) and Halma (LSE:HLMA).
While not immune to shocks themselves, I expect them to deliver a reliable passive income decades from now. Want to know why?
7.2% dividend yield
Primary Health Properties has grown annual dividends every year since the mid-1990s. It’s benefitted from rising healthcare demand as the UK and Ireland’s populations have rapidly aged.
Is this trend likely to end any time soon? Not at all. In fact, the number of elderly people is tipped to rocket — by 2047, the number of people aged 85+ will almost double from the 1.7m recorded 25 years earlier, official forecasters reckon.
That’s not all that could benefit Primary Health Properties. The approach to healthcare is changing, and medical facilities like GP surgeries and local clinics are becoming more critical to reduce hospital wait times, prevent illness earlier, and provide care closer to home.
Most important for policymakers, hospital care is far more expensive that community-based care. As the country’s ageing population puts greater stress on the public finances, the importance of providing cost-effective healthcare is only going to grow in importance.
This all makes Primary Health a top real estate investment trust (REIT) to consider. But bear in mind that while it should continue paying large and growing dividends, its share price could fall if interest rates rise, putting asset values under pressure.
The company’s forward dividend yield is currently a chunky 7.2%.
Please note that tax treatment depends on the individual circumstances of each client and may be subject to change in future. The content in this article is provided for information purposes only. It is not intended to be, neither does it constitute, any form of tax advice.
46 years of growth
Halma doesn’t have the showstopping dividend yields of that REIT. For the current financial year (to March 2026), its yield is 0.8%.
But don’t rule the FTSE 100 company out yet, as it has one of the greatest dividend growth stories on London’s stock market. Annual dividends have risen by 5% or more for a stunning 46 years on the trot.
For just over two decades, Halma’s delivered record profits over consecutive years. This reflects the increasing importance of its products as safety and environmental regulations become stricter. The business designs an array of technologies including fire detectors, electrical testing equipment and water quality gauges.
Halma hasn’t sat back and simply ridden this opportunity, though. An ambitious, acquisition-based growth strategy’s helped it to deliver record earnings year after year. And the business has a strong balance sheet and healthy deal pipeline to keep the deals coming.
Acquisitions provide opportunity but they also create danger. Any bolt-on purchases Halma makes that, for instance, delivers underwhelming revenues can erode shareholder value. But the FTSE firm has a good record on this front, and I think it’s a great stock to consider for long-term passive income.
