Yesterday, the Bank of Canada slashed its benchmark interest rates by 0.25% to 2.75%, marking seven interest rate cuts in a row. With interest rates continuing to fall, investing in monthly-paying dividend stocks that offer higher yields is an ideal strategy to earn a stable passive income. Against his backdrop, here are my three top picks.
Sienna Senior Living
Sienna Senior Living (TSX:SIA), which offers a full range of senior living options, is my first pick. The company posted an impressive fourth-quarter performance last month, with its adjusted revenue growing by 12.5% amid higher occupancy rates, increased annual rental rates, higher funding for direct care, and contribution from care and ancillary revenue. Supported by its topline growth, its total adjusted net operating income increased by 22.1% to $46.7 million. Also, the company's adjusted fund flows from operations increased by 22.6% to $45.5 million.
Moreover, the company's occupancy rate continues to improve, reaching 93.1% in January 2025 compared to 92.9% in the fourth quarter. Further, it recently acquired two high-quality assets, a 165-suite retirement residence in Ottawa and a 192-bed Class A long-term care home in the Greater Toronto Area, for $81 million. Amid these acquisitions and improving occupancy rate, I expect the uptrend in SIA's financials to continue, thus supporting its future dividend payouts. It currently pays a monthly dividend of $0.078/share, with its forward dividend yield at 5.90% as of March 12th closing price.
SmartCentres Real Estate Investment Trust
SmartCentres Real Estate Investment Trust (TSX:SRU.UN) is another attractive monthly-paying dividend stock that I am bullish on due to its solid financials and healthy development projects. The REIT operates around 195 properties, with a gross leasable area of 35.3 million square feet. In the recently reported fourth-quarter earnings, its occupancy rate stood at 98.7%, a 20 basis points improvement from the previous year's quarter. Its rental income for the quarter rose 10.2% to $141.6 million amid lease-up activities, higher common area maintenance charges, and growth in residential closing revenues.
During the quarter, the company leased out 192,353 square feet of vacant space and renewed or extended around 91% of leases maturing last year, with a rental growth of 8%. Further, the company's developmental pipeline looks solid, given 59.1 million square feet of developmental permissions with one million square feet of construction currently underway. Along with retail properties, the company also focuses on developing mixed-use properties. All these initiatives could support its financial growth, thus making its future dividend payouts safer. Its current monthly dividend payout of $0.1542/share translates into an impressive forward dividend yield of 7.31%.
Northland Power
My final pick is Northland Power (TSX:NPI), which owns or has an economic interest in 3.2 gigawatts of clean energy-producing facilities. It sells the power generated from these facilities through long-term PPAs (power-purchase agreements), thus shielding its financials from market fluctuations. The company has grown its adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization) at an annualized rate of 5% over the last five years amid its expanding asset base.
Moreover, the growing awareness about the rising pollution levels and their effects has led to an increased transition towards clean and green energy, thus expanding the addressable market for Northland Power. Moreover, the company is building new facilities and hopes to raise its power production capacity to six gigawatts. Amid these expansions, the company's management expects its adjusted EBITDA to increase at a 10.4% compound annual growth rate over the next two years. Given these growth prospects, Northland Power could continue paying dividends at a healthier rate. Its monthly dividend payout of $0.10/share translated into a forward dividend yield of 6.1%.
