2 FTSE 100 shares I’d buy today for passive income
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Creating a passive income stream essentially means making money without having to do any work — or at least not having to do additional work after it’s set up.
By investing in FTSE 100 shares with solid dividend yields, I can generate passive income without having to do much other than hold the investment. That said, I would always consider the long-term growth prospects of the share, as well as the yield. I think there’s little point in generating those yields if the value of the investment goes down.
With that considered, here are two Footsie shares I’d buy today. I see them both as stable and able to generate impressive dividends.
Legal & General
As a growth investor, I look to buy companies with strong and stable track records. I also like to see a business model with steady demand. FTSE 100 insurer Legal & General Group (LSE:LGEN) ticks a lot of boxes for me.
The LGEN share price has recovered well since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, it still trades 17% down compared with last February.
Regardless of previous performance in the market, I’m really encouraged by the insurance firm’s profit guidance. Legal & General says its operating profit for 2020 is expected to be the same as 2019. While it’s not growth, given the year that it was, I don’t see it as a bad result.
What is more worrying is the company’s dividend news. Legal & General announced late last year that the dividend would remain flat and not increase as had been previously expected.
However, the current dividend still provides a yield of just under 7% — a very attractive prospect. As part of the same update in November, Legal & General also detailed a five-year plan to return to dividend growth from 2021. This supports my assessment that the insurance giant is a stable, well-managed outfit.
Vodafone
Another popular income stock I’d consider adding to my portfolio or Stocks and Shares ISA is telecommunications provider Vodafone Group (LSE:VOD).
It’s another FTSE 100 share that has recovered during the most recent stock market rally, with its share price rising more than 26% in the last three months. That said, in the last 12 months it has lost around 8% of its value.
Vodafone has a price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) of 27, which a lot of investors may consider to be too expensive. However, with a dividend yield of almost 6% the company continues to provide one of the best payouts to investors in the Footsie.
But how has business been for Vodafone? In a trading update last week, the company announced it had returned to service growth after strong performance in its biggest market, Germany.
Organic service revenue rose to €9.36bn (£8.3bn) in the three months to the end of December. This 0.4% rise mirrored a 0.4% drop in the previous quarter. There were declines in some other markets, particularly in Italy, where operating profit fell 7.8% for the quarter.
But I see enough value in Vodafone’s dividend, in addition to a return to growth in its biggest market, to see it as a solid income stock.
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conorcoyle has no position in any of the shares mentioned. The Motley Fool UK has no position in any of the shares mentioned. 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.