3 Magnificent Dividend Stocks for Risk-Averse Investors

Are you looking for all of the income-generating benefits of being in the stock market without taking on any of its inherent risk? As you've likely realized by now, that option doesn't exist. Every investment involves some degree of risk, including even the seemingly safest of dividend stocks.

You can certainly minimize this risk without undermining your upside, though, especially if your goal is just generating reliable income. Here's a closer look at three such dividend stocks if you're more risk-averse than the average investor.

Procter & Gamble

The market's safest stocks are typically ones that sell products and services that consumers -- as well as corporations -- purchase over and over again regardless of the economic backdrop. Think consumer staples like food, soap, and batteries. To this end, Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) may be the quintessential consumer goods name.

This company may be more than you realize. P&G is the parent to Pampers diapers, Tide detergent, Bounty paper towels, Gillette razors, Crest toothpaste, and Tide laundry detergent just to name a few. These are goods that must be repeatedly bought, and Procter's sheer size and big marketing budget helps ensure consumers choose these brands. The company spent $10.2 billion on advertising alone last year, for perspective, making it one of the world's biggest in terms of total outlays.

You can step into PG shares here at a decent forward-looking dividend yield of 2.7%, and that's based on a dividend, by the way, that's now been raised for 70 straight years.

NextEra Energy

In the same sense that people purchase soap, toothpaste, and groceries over and over again, they also keep their lights turned on regardless of the cost of doing so. The only difference between the power utility industry and the consumer staples business is that consumers often have little to no choice as to who provides their electricity.

Enter NextEra Energy (NYSE: NEE), which is the nation's biggest utility name as measured by market capitalization, and one of the biggest as measured by revenue. The $172 billion behemoth did $27.4 billion worth of business last year, turning $7.7 billion of that into net income. NEE's forward-looking yield right now stands at 3%, which isn't much, but is a reliable payment.

Bristol Myers Squibb

Last but not least, add drugmaker Bristol Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY) to your list of low-risk dividend stocks to buy right now, while it's yielding 4.1%.

Bristol Myers Squibb is admittedly one of the market's least exciting pharmaceuticals names. Although it could have, it didn't jump at the chance to capitalize on the COVID-19 pandemic. It's not pouncing on the GLP-1 weight-loss drug opportunity either. It's not even acquiring its way deeper into the oncology business, as Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson have of late.

Rather, it's just kept its focus on making the most cost-effective use of its blood thinner Eliquis and cancer-fighting Opdivo, while steering a small handful of promising prospects through its R&D pipeline. This less aggressive, lower cost, and more predictable approach may ultimately sidestep much of the drama that makes it difficult to invest (and remain invested) in the pharmaceutical business, though.

This might help: Bristol Myers Squibb has now upped its per-share dividend payment for 17 consecutive years.

James Brumley has positions in Procter & Gamble. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bristol Myers Squibb, NextEra Energy, and Pfizer. The Motley Fool recommends Johnson & Johnson. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.