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Highest-Paying Dividend Stocks in the S&P 500

More than 75% of the S&P pays a dividend these days. Here are the 10 highest-paying dividend stocks in the S&P 500.

Dividend Stock

More than 75% of the stocks in the S&P 500 pay a dividend, and the dividend for many of them exceeds the yield on U.S. 10-year Treasury bonds (currently around 4.3%).

However, screening for the highest-paying dividend stocks in the S&P 500 reveals some even more impressive yields. In fact, several of these high-dividend stocks in the S&P 500 currently yield over 5%. And the top 10 highest-paying dividend stocks all yield above 6%.

Higher yields come with higher risks, though. Many of these stocks’ yields are so high because they’re struggling, and some may end up slashing their dividends.

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From highest yield (9.9%) to lowest yield (6.2%), here are the 10 highest-paying dividend stocks in the S&P 500 today:

The 10 Highest-Paying Dividend Stocks in the S&P 500

    RankCompany (Ticker)Dividend Yield
    1Altria (MO)9.90%
    2Healthpeak Properties (PEAK)7.20%
    3Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA)7.00%
    43M (MMM)6.90%
    5Kinder Morgan (KMI)6.60%
    6AT&T (T)6.60%
    7Verizon (VZ)6.60%
    8Devon Energy (DVN)6.40%
    9Whirlpool (WHR)6.40%
    10Pfizer (PFE)6.20%

    Here’s a closer look at each one of the top 10 highest-paying dividend stocks.

    1. Altria (MO)
    Dividend Yield: 9.9%

    Altria is well known as one of the world’s biggest producers of tobacco and other smoking-related products. The company is equally well known as being one of the most persistent high-dividend payers among U.S.-based, blue-chip companies, with a current annual dividend of $3.92 per share (this was raised from $3.76 per share last year). Indeed, Altria’s dividend payouts have nearly tripled in the last 10 years. And while some investors are concerned that Altria’s cigarette and tobacco business likely faces headwinds from consumers’ shifting preferences, its investments in increasingly popular vaping and cannabis products should ensure the company’s revenue growth going forward.

    2. Healthpeak Properties (PEAK)
    Dividend Yield: 7.2%

    Healthpeak Properties is a healthcare-focused REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust) that is relatively new to this list but has been an S&P 500 component since 2008. The company owns and operates over $20 billion of lab and outpatient facilities (healthcare discovery and delivery in the company’s parlance) with an emphasis on Seattle, Boston and San Francisco (for labs) and outpatient facilities tethered to either the #1 or #2 hospitals in their local markets. The company also invests in continuing care retirement communities, which typically provide a range of care to senior residents. Its inclusion on the list largely owes to underperformance, with shares down 34% in the last year and 46% in the last five. The company has been paying $1.20 per share annual dividends since 2021, which are down from a peak of $2.30 in 2016.

    3. Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA)
    Dividend Yield: 7.0%

    Walgreens Boots Alliance is the multinational operator of Walgreens (U.S.) and Boots (U.K.) pharmacies. The company regularly appears on this list but is currently struggling with muted consumer spending at its locations and the end of the covid vaccine push. As a result, the company announced it’s closing 450 stores (150 U.S. & 300 U.K.) and reducing workforce (10%) when it reported Q1 earnings of $0.14 per share compared to $0.33 in the year-ago quarter. Cost-cutting measures are expected to run into 2024 and the company recently sold $1.85 billion of AmerisourceBergen (ABC) stock to improve the balance sheet. Given the recent struggles, that shares are coming off their worst years on record and with the share price at levels not seen since 1998, this is probably one entry on the list to avoid.

    4. 3M (MMM)
    Dividend Yield: 6.9%

    MMM is another stock whose appearance on this list is largely due to underperformance more than dividend growth, with shares having fallen 16.6% in the last year and 56.5% in the last five. In fact, the company had its worst selloff in five years in late January when it issued soft guidance for 2024 profits. The company is a well-known producer of protective equipment for a slate of industries (among other goods) and actually raised its recently announced first-quarter dividend (by a penny, from $1.50 to $1.51). It also announced filings related to its planned spin-off of its healthcare arm, which will trade under the name Solventum (SOLV) beginning on April 1.

    5. Kinder Morgan (KMI)
    Dividend Yield: 6.6%

    Kinder Morgan is one of the largest energy infrastructure companies in North America. The company specializes in owning and controlling oil and gas pipelines and terminals. Kinder Morgan owns an interest in or operates approximately 82,000 miles of pipelines and 140 terminals. The company has a standard practice of annual dividend hikes, with last year’s coming with their April declaration. The company is heavily owned (64%+) by institutions, with insiders holding another 13% of shares and an active $3 billion buyback program in place of which $522 million was spent buying back shares in 2023 alone.

    6. AT&T (T)
    Dividend Yield: 6.6%

    AT&T provides telecom services through a variety of avenues including wired and wireless services. The company is the third-largest telecom company in the world by revenues and the biggest mobile provider in the U.S. AT&T has a solid dividend history although it did cut the dividend in 2022 with its spin-off of Warner Bros.’ media assets (a possible risk for 3M above). The failed attempt to become a content company with their 2018 acquisition of Time Warner proved to be a costly mistake that remains a threat to the company’s $8 billion annual dividend payout.

    7. Verizon (VZ)
    Dividend Yield: 6.6%

    Verizon provides wired and wireless connectivity to consumers and businesses through their 4GLTE and 5G wireless networks and their wired telecom and Fios fiber optic network. The company is a dividend stalwart and regularly appears on the list of highest-paying dividend stocks. The company also offers investors exposure to the growth of the Internet of Things (IOT) and is generally an attractive long-term holding.

    8. Devon Energy (DVN)
    Dividend Yield: 6.4%

    Devon Energy is an oil and gas exploration company headquartered in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The company has a strong track record of prioritizing returns to shareholders using a “fixed plus variable” dividend strategy that returns free cash flow from its portfolio properties to shareholders. Declining oil prices have put something of a dent in those returns, but the company pegs its breakeven oil price at $40/bbl. Shares are off in sympathy with oil prices, down 17% in the last year, and the company expects production weakness in the next few quarters until summer seasonality kicks in later this year.

    9. Whirlpool (WHR)
    Dividend Yield: 6.4%

    Whirlpool is the well-known manufacturer of its eponymous appliances as well as those from Maytag, JennAir, InSinkErator and KitchenAid, among other lesser-known brands. The company has been paying a steady (and rising) dividend for decades, which was last increased (to $1.75 quarterly) in early 2022. While dividend hikes are sporadic, the annual payout has increased from $1.20 in 1995 to $7 today. Shares are down more than 24% in the last five years and trading at levels last seen in early 2013. Even with dividends reinvested, a 10-year investment in WHR would have translated to annual returns of only 0.9%.

    10. Pfizer (PFE)
    Dividend Yield: 6.2%

    Originally established in New York over 170 years ago, Pfizer is an American-headquartered multinational pharmaceutical and biotech company. The company has been a (mostly) reliable dividend payer for years, albeit inconsistently, with the last major dividend cuts coming on the heels of the Great Financial Crisis. But since then, they’ve steadily (if slowly) been raising their dividend, with the last hike raising their most recent quarterly dividend from $0.41 to $0.42. As for the stock, it’s fallen more than 50% since the end of 2022 and is trading at levels last seen in 2014, 2005, and ... 1997.

    There you have it: those are the 10 highest-paying dividend stocks in the S&P 500 today. If you want the best dividend stocks right now regardless of yield, I highly recommend subscribing to our Cabot Dividend Investor advisory, where chief analyst Tom Hutchinson has a portfolio full of dividend-paying stocks that offer generous yields and strong share price growth.

    To learn more, click here.

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    *This post is periodically updated to reflect market conditions.

    Clif Droke is Chief Analyst of Cabot SX Gold & Metals. For over 20 years, he has worked as a writer, analyst and editor of several market-oriented advisory services and has written several books on technical trading in the stock market, including “Channel Buster: How to Trade the Most Profitable Chart Pattern” and “The Stock Market Cycles.”