16 Best Dividend Paying Healthcare Stocks

 | Sep 03, 2012 04:28AM ET

The healthcare sector is a great investment field with fantastic growth potential. The whole sector has a total market capitalization of USD 43.18 trillion and summarizes 543 companies. The average dividend yield for stocks within the sector amounts to 3.34 percent and the P/E ratio is 22.59.

In order to find the best dividend paying stocks within the sector, I screened all companies with a positive dividend yield, great earnings per share growth of more than five percent and an operating margin over 15 percent. In order get the best results in terms of low debt and high cash, the debt to equity ratio should be under 0.5. Sixteen healthcare companies remain of which four yielding over three percent and thirteen are currently recommended to buy.

Covidien (NYSE:COV) has a market capitalization of $26.91 billion. The company employs 41,300 people, generates revenue of $11,574.00 million and has a net income of $1,883.00 million. The firm’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) amounts to $2,974.00 million. The EBITDA margin is 25.70 percent (operating margin 20.52 percent and net profit margin 16.27 percent).

Financial Analysis: The total debt represents 20.65 percent of the company’s assets and the total debt in relation to the equity amounts to 42.86 percent. Due to the financial situation, a return on equity of 20.04 percent was realized. Twelve trailing months earnings per share reached a value of $3.89. Last fiscal year, the company paid $0.83 in form of dividends to shareholders. The earnings are expected to grow by 10.34 percent for the next five years.

Market Valuation: Here are the price ratios of the company: The P/E ratio is 14.41, P/S ratio 2.32 and P/B ratio 2.75. Dividend Yield: 1.61 percent. The beta ratio is 0.84.