• You can rely on these dividend stocks to pay you even in the bad times.
• Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA): This pharmacy retailer pays a reliable quarterly dividend.
• Chevron (CVX): One of the best-yielding energy stocks and a Warren Buffett favorite.
• Lumen (LUMN): Investors will be hard pressed to find a bigger dividend payment than Lumen’s 9% yield.
• 3M (MMM): A rare dividend king that has increased its quarterly payout for more than 50 consecutive years.

Dividends are an important benefit to shareholders. Quarterly and, in some cases, monthly dividend payments can prove to be a valuable source of income for investors, particularly in retirement. Dividend stocks that pay out regularly and predictably in good times and bad can also help people weather market turmoil such as we are currently experiencing.

Dividends can be an important measure of a stocks total return to investors beyond just the appreciation of the share price. But not all dividend payments are equal. Many companies pay only small dividends or none at all, choosing instead to reinvest any surplus capital. However, some companies are extremely generous with their dividend payments, and owning such stocks can prove to be exceptionally beneficial over the long run.

Here are four safe dividend stocks that are still offering mighty solid yields to their shareholders.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA)

Dividend Yield: 4.5%

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) operates a retail pharmacy chain that has more than 9,000 outlets in the U.S., as well as 275,000 employees and annual sales of around $140 billion.

The company also pays a hefty dividend that currently yields 4.5%, or 48 cents per share a quarter. Walgreens has also consistently paid out its quarterly dividend to shareholders for 46 consecutive years — through good times and bad.

Walgreens is currently in the process of revamping much of its retail pharmacy network coming out of the pandemic, increasing its digital sales and adding healthcare clinics at hundreds of locations. WBA stock is down 20% year to date at $41.94 a share. While that’s disappointing, the quarterly dividend payments should help to console shareholders and keep them invested until the stock eventually rebounds with the broader market.

Chevron (CVX)

Dividend Yield: 3.4%

San Ramon, California-based oil giant Chevron (NYSE:CVX) has been in the news a lot this year. Not only is CVX stock marching higher along with prices for oil and natural gas, but famed investor Warren Buffett has been buying the company’s shares hand over fist in recent months, investing $26 billion in the company to make it one of his holding company Berkshire Hathaway’s (NYSE:BRK.A, NYSE:BRK.B) top four investments.

While Buffett no doubt likes that CVX stock has been climbing upwards, he surely also likes that Chevron pays a dividend yield of 3.4%, or $1.42 per share each quarter. In fact, the entire energy sector offers attractive dividends to shareholders. The average dividend yield among stocks in the energy sector is currently 4.7%, compared to the S&P 500′s average dividend yield of 1.5%.

Chevron’s generous dividend payment can provide a nice income stream to investors.

So far in 2022, CVX stock has gained 47% to now trade at $172.17 a share. That compares with a decline in the S&P 500 index of 19%.

Lumen Technologies (LUMN)

Dividend Yield: 9%

For a truly amazing dividend, investors should look to Lumen Technologies (NYSE:LUMN). The Monroe, Louisiana-based company pays a dividend that yields a mighty 9%, thanks to a quarterly payout of 25 cents a share. Investors are unlikely to find any dividend yields much greater than what’s being offered by Lumen Technologies.

While super impressive, Lumen’s dividend comes with a few caveats.

Lumen is a telecommunications company that primarily focuses on communications services such as local and long-distance voice and broadband networks, as well as ethernet and voice over internet protocol (VoIP) systems. The business, which has been around in one form or another since 1930 and a public concern since 1984, is a bit antiquated. Much of its core business is in decline, which is why Lumen is pushing into new areas such as cybersecurity.

Year to date, LUMN stock is down only 6% to $11.78 a share. That’s much better than the 28% decline in the technology-heavy Nasdaq index so far this year. And while Lumen’s business is a bit shaky, there’s no arguing with the company’s dividend payout.

3M (MMM)

Dividend Yield: 4.1%

For those unfamiliar with St. Paul, Minnesota-based 3M (NYSE:MMM), the company has been a going concern for 120 years and makes more than 60,000 products, many of which we use in our daily lives. These include everything from sticky notes to Scotch tape. The company also manufactures dental and medical products for some of the largest healthcare companies in the world. With 95,000 employees and annual revenues of more than $30 billion, 3M is a major American company.

And shareholders of MMM stock enjoy a dividend yield of 4.1%, or a $1.49 per share each quarter of the year. Plus, 3M is one of only 39 “dividend kings” among S&P 500-listed companies. This means that 3M has increased its stock dividend for 50 consecutive years or longer. Shareholders have been able to count on reliable and constantly increasing dividends from 3M for decades.

In terms of its stock, 3M shares are down 18% this year at $144.84, just about matching the decline in the S&P 500 index.

On the date of publication, Joel Baglole held a long position in BRK.B. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.