The Technology sector has experienced a huge boom in the past couple of decades, with anyone who invested in a few tech start-ups 15 to 20 years ago probably living out the rest of their life as a millionaire now. Having said that, there have been as many, if not more, technology companies that have gone out of business just as quickly as Google made their billions and lost their investors plenty of money too.

If you’re looking to make investments in technology stocks and shares with investment options such as share trading with IG, then there are a number of Dividend-paying options to consider. While some huge technology firms do no pay dividends, such as Facebook, the following five all do and are reliable choices to add to your portfolio.

Apple

The world’s largest publicly traded company, Apple only actually began paying a dividend in 2012. As one of the best-known and most successful businesses in the world, investing in Apple stocks may not seem like the highest yielding option, especially as its current 2.1% dividend yield is similar to the broader market.

However, as one of the world’s largest corporations and with a cash base of over $200 billion, it possesses an incredible amount of financial flexibility. With the continuing releases of brand new iPhones, iPads and further technologies only set to increase its worth, it looks set to drive shareholder value through many activities, including dividends increases.

Intel

Intel is the largest semiconductor company in the world and one of the most associated with computing technology. Part of a rapidly changing market, it has suffered a few problems when aiming to be competitive, as it entered the mobile and tablet market far too late. This resulted in big losses as its attempt to play catch up led to huge costs.

Still, for such a huge and successful PC-based business, it has other assets that make it a worthwhile investment opportunity and one that pays high dividends. Its data centre element is now its higher margin than its traditional PC side, and the company acquired Altera recently to add to its stock. Intel is still incredibly profitable and able to pay a high dividend yield, currently at 3%.

Cisco Systems

In February 2016 Cisco Systems increased its dividend by 24% along with a $15 billion stock buyback. At the time that resulted in a dividend pay-out yield of around 3.9%. Although it may now be at 3.4%, that still makes it one of the top ten highest dividend stocks in tech. Plus, along with a high dividend yield, it offers high dividend growth as well.

Cisco Systems is a major cash flow generator, with a very high level of free cash flow generation as a percentage of sales. Not only is this a good demonstration of the company’s strong business model, but it is also growing and taking advantage of emerging markets, growing by over 10% in Asia last year. Such a strong performance in the past, present and future, makes it a good dividend paying technology business to consider.

Verizon

One of the most successful telecom companies in the world, Verizon possesses over $130 billion in revenue and is continuing to grow. It may not have had an increasing stock price in the past few years, but it is an incredible stable business that won’t be disappearing soon. What’s more, since 1984 it has consistently paid out quarterly dividends.

A dividend yield of over 4% and regular pay-out ratio above 50% mean that even those who cannot afford to invest big money can still benefit. An expanding business and fantastic core behind it mean it makes an incredibly reliable stock to invest in.

IBM

IBM is consistently named in the globe’s top dividend-paying stocks within the technology sector, even though it has been through a rough patch. Revenue may be down for quite a few past quarters, but the business continues to generate good levels of free cash flow which allows it to provide good returns for shareholders, no matter what other issues it is facing.

As such an established business and one that is adaptable, it will almost definitely put a halt to declining revenues soon. When it does, all those who invested in their stock dividends will be sure to benefit even more than they would now.

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