2 Dividend Shares to be purchased for perpetuity

Dividends can provide a stable source of income for shareholders, but only if the company maintains or increases its dividends year on year. Unfortunately, not every dividend paying company can do this. Many companies suspend or reduce their dividends when there are specific problems with the economy or the company.

Thankfully, there are some dividend-paying stocks in the market that have been able to steadily return increasing amounts of capital to shareholders over time. Let's look at two examples:Johnsonfirms(NYSE: JNJ)respond in singingresonancefirms(NYSE: MRK)The

1. Johnson & Johnson

Johnson & Johnson has many qualities that attract long-term investors. As one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies, Johnson & Johnson has been developing innovative medicines for decades. Since Johnson & Johnson's founding, the regulatory environment has changed dramatically, with market crashes, economic downturns and pandemics occurring on more than one occasion. The fact that Johnson & Johnson has continued to excel through it all is a testament to the strength of the drugmaker. And it's still going strong.

In 2023, the healthcare giant abandoned its consumer health division to focus on developing innovative medicines and therapeutic devices. Last year, Johnson & Johnson's sales rose 6.5% year-over-year to $85.2 billion, or 5.9% excluding the impact of acquisitions and divestitures, and Johnson & Johnson's adjusted earnings per share (EPS) rose 11% to $9.92.

For a drug giant, these are real achievements. But Johnson & Johnson also faces some downsides. Sales of some products, including some of Johnson & Johnson's products, will almost certainly decline as Medicare now has the right to negotiate prices for some of its most costly drugs. However, Johnson & Johnson should be able to balance the loss with its large product line of 90 items in various stages of development.

For a company like Johnson & Johnson, which has a lot of resources, it shouldn't be too difficult to direct its drug development strategy to a way that avoids negotiation on the price of medical insurance. Therefore, I am not worried. Johnson & Johnson is still a top stock to hold for the long term.

The company is the "Dividend King" with 61 consecutive years of dividend increases, and its 3% dividend yield is much higher than theStandard & Poor's 500 Index 1.5% average. The company is unlikely to suspend or reduce its dividend in the near future, so income-seeking investors could find what they're looking for in this stock.

2. Keroson Corporation

For some time now, the most important growth driver for resonance has been Keytruda, an anti-cancer drug whose patent exclusivity expires in 2028, although sales will continue to grow over the next few years. Kirchner has been busy preparing for this. Recently, Resonance took a step in the right direction when it received FDA approval for Winrevair, a drug to treat adults with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), a rare and potentially fatal disease.

Winrevair's sales are projected to exceed that of a blockbuster ($1 billion in annual revenues), but will likely not come close to Keytruda's multi-billion dollar empire. That said, the crux of the matter is that Mergens is slowly rejuvenating its product lineup. The company is developing a potential treatment for non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) called efinopegdutide. The NASH treatment market is still new, as the FDA only approved the first drug in this area this year.

However, the market is expected to grow rapidly in the coming years. In a Phase II study, efinopegdutide was shown to be more effective than semaglutide, the active ingredient in the diabetes drug Ozempic, which is also being developed for the treatment of NASH. Although there is still a long way to go, this recent development demonstrates Merck's ability to innovate.

Excluding sales of coronavirus therapeutics, resonance's financial performance has been good. Last year, resonance sales grew 11 TP3T year-over-year to $60 billion, and 91 TP3T compared to 2022, excluding coronaviral products. Excluding coronaviral products, sales grew 9% compared to 2022, and resonance's financial performance has been solid for some time, having gone over the patent cliff before. It should be able to ride out the Keytruda patent cliff. While resonance isn't the "Dividend King," it does have an enviable dividend profile, with a yield of 2.4% at the time of this writing and a dividend increase of 40% over the past five years. resonance is a good defensive income stock for long-term investors.

Should you invest $1,000 in Johnson & Johnson now?

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Prosper Junior Bakiny owns shares of Johnson & Johnson.The Motley Fool owns shares of Kerosene Corporation.The Motley Fool recommends Johnson & Johnson.The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

2 Dividend Stocks to Buy and Hold Forever was originally published by The Motley Fool.