Image source: Getty Images <\/p>\n
There\u2019s no such thing as a guaranteed passive income with share investing. Event the most dependable dividend shares can slash, cancel or postpone dividends when a crisis rears its head.<\/p>\n
Oil giant Shell<\/strong> hadn\u2019t cut dividends since 1945 until the Covid-19 pandemic came along. Fellow FTSE 100<\/strong> stock and utility National Grid<\/strong> had decades of dividend growth behind it before cutting it last year to upgrade the UK\u2019s power grid.<\/p>\n However, investors can take steps to reduce the risk of dividend disappointment. Picking cash-rich companies with diversified revenue streams and economic moats can significantly boost one\u2019s chances of a healthy and reliable long-term income.<\/p>\n With this in mind, here are three top stocks to consider.<\/p>\n HSBC <\/strong>(LSE:HSBA) is a share I\u2019ve bought for my own portfolio for passive income. Shareholder payouts have risen strongly since they were slashed during the pandemic. The last time they were cut before that was in the depths of the Great Financial Crisis.<\/p>\n Trouble in China poses a near-term threat to profits and the bank\u2019s share price. Yet I\u2019m optimistic ordinary dividends here should keep growing, supported by the company\u2019s robust balance sheet. Its CET1 ratio was 14.6% as of June, which is the highest among any of the FTSE 100\u2019s banks.<\/p>\n I expect HSBC to remain capitalised, driven by high growth in its Asian regions and ambitious cost-cutting across the group. It\u2019s targeting $3bn worth of cost reductions in the next few years.<\/p>\n The forward dividend yield here is 5.2%.<\/p>\n Real estate investment trust (REIT) Primary Health Properties <\/strong>(LSE:PHP) also sits proudly in my portfolio. I\u2019ve used it to leverage the long-term opportunities that come with the UK\u2019s booming elderly population.<\/p>\n The FTSE 250<\/strong> company is one of the lowest-risk dividend shares out there in my opinion. Under REIT rules, at least 90% of annual rental profits need to be distributed to shareholders. It also operates in the highly defensive healthcare sector where it lets out GP surgeries and other medical buildings.<\/p>\n A large portion of its rental roll is also inflation linked and backed by government bodies.<\/p>\n The trust is vulnerable to changes in NHS policy, but on balance I\u2019m expecting it to remain a lucrative dividend share. Annual payouts have risen every year since the mid-1990s. The forward dividend yield is 8%.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n BAE Systems<\/strong> (LSE:BA.) doesn\u2019t have the enormous yields of this REIT nor of HSBC. For 2025 its dividend yield is a healthy if unspectacular 2%.<\/p>\n But don\u2019t click off just yet as what it does have is a long record of strong and sustained payout growth. Dividends have risen for just over 20 years on the spin. Over the past half a decade they\u2019ve risen at an impressive average yearly rate of 8%.<\/p>\n I think it can maintain its position as one of the FTSE 100\u2019s best dividend growth stocks. It\u2019s another very cash generative business, and \u2014 despite the threat of high sector competition and failure in any of its products that are risks to the business \u2014 I feel cash rewards should keep climbing as global defence spending booms.<\/p>\n The post Seeking a passive income? 3 low-risk dividend shares to consider<\/a> appeared first on The Motley Fool UK<\/a>.<\/p>\n More reading<\/strong><\/p>\n HSBC Holdings is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. Royston Wild<\/a> has positions in HSBC Holdings and Primary Health Properties Plc. The Motley Fool UK has recommended BAE Systems, HSBC Holdings, National Grid Plc, and Primary Health Properties Plc. Views expressed on the companies mentioned in this article are those of the writer and therefore may differ from the official recommendations we make in our subscription services such as Share Advisor, Hidden Winners and Pro. Here at The Motley Fool we believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.<\/a><\/p>\n Motley Fool UK 2025<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Image source: Getty Images There\u2019s no such thing as a guaranteed passive income with share investing. Event the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":511255,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[167222,748,36651,16772,393,1880,4884,12522,1144,19536,167223,712,16,15,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-511254","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uk","8":"category-united-kingdom","9":"tag-best-dividend-growth-stocks","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-dividend-growth","12":"tag-dividend-yield","13":"tag-england","14":"tag-ftse-100","15":"tag-great-britain","16":"tag-hsbc","17":"tag-northern-ireland","18":"tag-passive-income","19":"tag-primary-health-properties","20":"tag-scotland","21":"tag-uk","22":"tag-united-kingdom","23":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115399360902307853","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=511254"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511254\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/511255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=511254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=511254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=511254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}