The same is true for stocks. Consider that global icon Apple Inc. (ticker: AAPL) yields a mere 0.4%, despite having roughly $100 billion in net income and one of the most entrenched brands in the planet. That's because it's easy to maintain a nominal dividend, but much harder to drive a huge yield – even for titans like Apple.

2024 was a great year for the stock market. The S&P 500 index climbed 23% for the year, driven by continued outperformance from large-cap growth stocks. But not every company participated in the ongoing market rally. Value stocks, in particular, lagged the rest of the market, and some have seen their prices drop to incredible bargains.

As the U.S. stock market experiences a notable upswing, with major indices like the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average posting their best weekly gains in months, investors are increasingly looking toward dividend stocks as a stable source of income amidst the volatility.

A quarterly dividend payment from a high-quality stock may be as close to a sure thing as an investor can find on Wall Street. Even during periods of broad market weakness, the lower a stock's price falls,

Tobacco titan Altria (NYSE: MO) has long been a solid dividend-paying company. It remains one today -- and it's offering a fat dividend yield, recently 7.8%. It's generally smart to seek out dividends growing at a good clip,