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Key Points
- The best dividend stocks can build long-term wealth while generating a growing stream of income that investors can use however they choose.
- These top stocks offer current dividend yields of up to 5.9% and have increased their payouts by nearly 20% annually over the past five years.
- The strongest dividend stocks are backed by durable businesses that can keep raising payouts for decades while also delivering capital gains.
The best dividend stocks offer solid payouts that investors can rely on for years. They help investors build wealth over time, offer a growing dividend, and are backed by the safety of a company with a solid track record. With a sizable portion of their returns paid out in cash, these top stocks are a great choice for retirees or anyone seeking income.
Top dividend stocks can offer investors the following benefits:
- Strong, long-term returns, with attractive capital gains and not just a high payout
- A high dividend, with yields higher than 2%, much greater than the S&P 500’s yield
- A growing dividend, with a payout that grows at least at the target rate of inflation
- A solid business, a larger company that has survived and thrived, often for decades
- Lower volatility, meaning the stock fluctuates less than the average stock
The best dividend stocks give you the chance to build wealth while offering a growing stream of dividends for decades, giving you the cash to spend however you like. Certain investors prefer dividend stocks with high yields and some growth over time, while others prefer a lower yield today but higher growth potential over time.
This list of 11 dividend stocks offers options for both approaches.
Best Dividend Stocks: How They Compare
| Stock (Ticker) | Dividend yield | Five-year annualized dividend growth | Five-year annualized return |
| Verizon Communications (VZ) | 5.9% | 2.0% | 2.0% |
| Edison International (EIX) | 5.0% | 5.7% | 8.6% |
| Kimco Realty (KIM) | 4.4% | 8.6% | 5.7% |
| Fidelity National Financial (FNF) | 4.3% | 8.4% | 4.5% |
| Lamar Advertising (LAMR) | 4.1% | 19.9% | 10.9% |
| Paychex (PAYX) | 3.8% | 11.9% | 4.2% |
| CareTrust REIT (CTRE) | 3.7% | 6.0% | 15.0% |
| Public Storage (PSA) | 3.7% | 8.5% | 4.7% |
| NextEra Energy (NEE) | 2.9% | 10.7% | 2.8% |
| McDonald’s (MCD) | 2.7% | 7.3% | 5.0% |
| Coca-Cola (KO) | 2.4% | 4.5% | 11.1% |
Some of these stocks are also included in MarketWise’s list of best retirement stocks for 2026.
1. Verizon Communications (VZ)
Everyone knows Verizon as one of the major U.S. telecom players, but maybe less well known is that it pays a massive dividend of nearly 6%. The trade-off for that high current yield is slow dividend growth, but investors can decide for themselves how they want to play the dividend game. The stock has not had a great five-year run, but its higher current yield gives investors plenty of reason to stick around and wait for the stock to catch a bid.
Market cap: $201 billion
Dividend yield: 5.9%
2. Edison International (EIX)
Electrical utilities can be great dividend picks because they enjoy stable, growing demand for their key product. They also tend to increase prices year after year, and their stock tends to be relatively stable because of these advantages. For California-based Edison, that has resulted in an attractive dividend and a history of raising it quickly.
Market cap: $27 billion
Dividend yield: 5.0%
3. Kimco Realty (KIM)
Kimco Realty is a real estate investment trust (“REIT”) that owns grocery-anchored shopping centers and mixed-use properties in major metro areas. Kimco’s “must-visit” properties generate reliable rents that grow over time, and as a REIT, it must pay out most of its income as dividends.
The company’s meaty current yield doesn’t come at the expense of strong dividend growth over the past five years either.
Market cap: $16 billion
Dividend yield: 4.4%
4. Fidelity National Financial (FNF)
Fidelity National Financial may not be a familiar name for many investors, but if you’ve ever bought or sold a house, there’s a good chance you’ve used the company for its title insurance. It’s the leading player in this oligopolistic industry, and it has delivered excellent returns over time, even if the past five years have been ho-hum.
It offers a high current yield, and management hasn’t been stingy about increasing the payout over the past half-decade, giving investors reason to hold the stock for a while.
Market cap: $13 billion
Dividend yield: 4.3%
5. Lamar Advertising (LAMR)
It seems like artificial intelligence (“AI”) or tech is disrupting nearly every business these days, so it’s refreshing when you find a business such as Lamar’s – billboard advertising – that seems largely unaffected. The company has some 360,000 billboards in the U.S. and Canada that advertise local and national brands to travelers.
The company has grown its meaty dividend nearly 20% annually over the past five years, on the way to putting up nearly 11% annualized returns.
Market cap: $16 billion
Dividend yield: 4.1%
6. Paychex (PAYX)
Paychex offers human resources management and payroll processing for small- and medium-sized businesses, among other related services. It has delivered tremendous returns for investors over time, even if the past five years have been a bit mediocre.
But that may be just a brief pause before another period of exceptional performance. Today’s investors can lock in a strong dividend and look for signs that management will raise that payout aggressively moving forward.
Market cap: $43 billion
Dividend yield: 3.8%
7. CareTrust REIT (CTRE)
CareTrust may not be a household name like others on this list, but it has delivered solid returns to investors, with a high yield and a growing payout over time.
As a REIT, it must make sizable dividend payments, and its business of leasing out healthcare facilities on long-term leases with annual rent escalators ensures the stable revenue that’s a prerequisite for a top dividend stock.
Market cap: $9 billion
Dividend yield: 3.7%
8. Public Storage (PSA)
Public Storage is the behemoth in the self-storage space. As a real estate investment trust, it has to pay out most of its income as dividends. It offers a high current yield that has grown at a brisk 8.5% annually over the past five years, meaning you’re getting the best of both worlds.
The REIT has redesigned its executive incentive system to help drive stock outperformance, a move that should help keep the dividend AND share price growing.
Market cap: $61 billion
Dividend yield: 3.7%
9. NextEra Energy (NEE)
NextEra is one of the largest North American electric utilities, with about 80 gigawatts of generation and storage capacity. NextEra is almost the definition of a “must-have” asset, with a product that will always be in demand, even while offering strong upside as AI-driven power demand pushes prices higher.
The stock’s above-average dividend has been growing quickly over the past half-decade, and recent price weakness may be a long-term opportunity.
Market cap: $179 billion
Dividend yield: 2.9%
10. McDonald’s (MCD)
McDonald’s may be famous for its Big Mac, but the firm makes much of its money from franchise fees and leasing out the real estate that sits beneath its thousands of restaurants.
As one of the most popular consumer businesses, the Golden Arches has shown notable durability, helping drive a solid dividend that’s grown at a fast 7.3% over the past five years.
Market cap: $193 billion
Dividend yield: 2.7%
11. Coca-Cola (KO)
While everyone knows the company’s namesake drink, Coca-Cola is a drink distributor that can deliver whatever consumers want – sodas, water, sports drinks, and juices. Coca-Cola has proven that it can thrive over decades, while increasing its dividend for 64 straight years.
Although its yield is on the lower side of our list, it has grown at a reasonable 4.5% annualized clip, while the stock has returned about 11% annually on average over the past five years.
Market cap: $377 billion
Dividend yield: 2.4%
Another Top Dividend Stock to Consider for Retirement Investors
The best dividend stocks offer strong returns over time that investors can rely on year after year, and Wall Street veteran Whitney Tilson has spent decades hunting for a business so durable that an investor could build an entire retirement portfolio around it.
Now, he says he has found a business that could deliver even bigger, more durable returns than the legendary business of Berkshire Hathaway and keep delivering for decades.
Whitney calls it “America’s Greatest Retirement Stock.”
Most investors have never heard of this company, and it only has around 100 employees. The company doesn’t exactly sit in a major metropolitan area either, doing business on a stretch of West Texas and New Mexico bigger than the size of Rhode Island.
That might make you think of oil, but this company doesn’t drill wells and doesn’t own a data center or generate any power. Instead, it owns the ground beneath one of the largest industrial build-outs in modern American history.
And every single time someone wants to use that ground, this company collects a payment.
Whitney recently took a helicopter out to see it for himself… Click here to watch his exclusive investigation.
Regards,
James Royal, PhD
