There are a lot of things that factor into whether a company should be considered a great dividend stock, but they all boil down to whether the company is healthy enough to continue delivering and raising its dividends.

A stock with a great dividend yield and lousy financials is a house of cards waiting to become a dividend trap. Great dividend companies are those whose distributions are in no danger of being cut because their businesses are growing and they have plenty of free cash flow to cover their dividends.

Medtronic (NYSE: MDT) offers a dividend that yields roughly 3.23%, nearly twice that of the S&P 500 average dividend yield. The medical equipment maker's shares are down more than 18% over the past year, but the healthcare company checks all the boxes for what a great dividend stock should be. It's also trading lower than it usually does right now, at only 27 times earnings. Let's take a closer look.

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Source Fool.com