All It Takes Is $2,500 Invested in Each of These 3 High-Yield Dow Dividend Stocks to Help Generate Over $300 in Passive Income Per Year

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI) has 30 industry-leading components that act as representatives of the U.S. economy. The index's rich history has made it a go-to destination for investors looking for quality names that can help them generate dividend income.

Over time, the composition of the Dow has changed to reflect the growing influence of technology on the economy, which has helped the Dow produce impressive gains in recent years. But even stodgy Dow names like Coca-Cola, Home Depot, and McDonald's have been roaring higher in recent months and helped the index achieve a fresh all-time high on Oct. 11.

Despite the Dow's track record, not every component has a high yield or has been a trustworthy dividend stock. Boeing's slew of challenges pressured the company to suspend its dividend. Tech stocks like Microsoft, Apple, and Salesforce have yields under 1%, and Amazon doesn't pay dividends.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), Dow (NYSE: DOW), and Chevron (NYSE: CVX) are three of the highest-yielding stocks in the index. Investing $2,500 into each stock produces an average yield of 4.2% and should generate at least $300 in passive income per year. Here's why all three dividend stocks are worth buying now.

Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is a Dividend King with 62 consecutive years of dividend increases. The company has long been known as a stodgy passive-income powerhouse. But the last few years have been challenging, as reflected in its languishing stock price.

J&J was a leader in COVID-19 vaccine developments, which was initially a boon for the company. But rapidly declining demand for the vaccine has been a drag on the company to the point where J&J now reports many of its results as "excluding the impact of the COVID-19 vaccine."

Another challenge has been adjusting to the spinoff of J&J's consumer health business, which occurred in August 2023. Former J&J brands, such as Band-Aid and Tylenol, are now under the new entity Kenvue. The spinoff should help J&J be a faster-growing company by focusing on just two segments -- Innovative Medicine and MedTech. However, it does remove some of the safe and stodgy parts of the business that made J&J a rock-solid dividend stock, no matter the economic cycle.

Finally, J&J has been dealing with lawsuits that allege its talc-based products led to cancer development. J&J restructured and made a subsidiary called Red River Talc LLC, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Sept. 20 to handle current and future claims.