If you’re seeking out the market’s best dividend stocks to buy right now, I have a suggestion:
Seek out the best stocks that also pay dividends.
I know it sounds like I said the same thing twice, but look again: The emphasis matters. Sometimes, people seek out dividend stocks with a focus on yield first, then quality second. That can work out, but it can also flame out spectacularly. After all, if a high payout is built on a shaky foundation, you might not receive that payout in perpetuity, and if that happens … well, it’s hard to imagine you’d love the stock you’re left with.
Instead, I suggest you initially target high quality, for two reasons: 1.) It gives you a better chance of buying durable dividends that will keep delivering a steady (and even growing) stream of income over time, and 2.) it gives you a better chance of buying companies whose sales and profits will continue to improve, resulting in higher share prices over time, too.
Today, I’m going to look at some of the best dividend stocks for 2026, as viewed through a high-quality lens. But don’t worry: Yield hasn’t been forgotten completely. Indeed, every stock here pays more than the market, and a majority pay double that or more.
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Disclaimer: This article does not constitute individualized investment advice. Individual securities, funds, and/or other investments appear for your consideration and not as personalized investment recommendations. Act at your own discretion.
Why Dividend Stocks?
Dividend stocks can do wonders for the long-term performance of your portfolio. These companies pay a regular flow of their profits directly back to shareholders, meaning you receive some sort of return—even when share prices aren’t cooperating.
Stocks that can both grow and pay dividends are the ultimate long-term stocks given just how much in additional returns they can generate over the long term.
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Here’s a look at the return someone could expect if they received just the price returns from the S&P 500 over the past 25 years:
Now look at how much better the return is when you factor in dividends had you had reinvested those dividends back into the S&P 500 (returns illustrated by an S&P 500-tracking ETF; note that expenses are included in performance):
The price return is right around 460%. The total return (price plus dividends) is 775%!
Just like price return on stocks can be improved upon with dividends, though, a stock that pays dividends but doesn’t go anywhere isn’t exactly ideal, either. Thus, the best dividend stocks will provide both a steady baseline of income and provide you with the potential for meaningful price upside.
Dividend Yields (And Dividend Safety)
Dividend yield is a simple calculation—annual dividend / price x 100—that can mean a world of difference for investors, especially those reliant on income.
But dividend yield isn’t everything. Sometimes, stocks with high yields can look more attractive, but they’re actually flashing a warning signal that the dividend isn’t sustainable. You see, a company can get a very high annual dividend yield in two very different ways: the dividend growing very rapidly, or the share price falling very quickly.
For example, Alpha Corp., which trades for $100 per share, pays a 75¢-per-share quarterly dividend, or $3 across the whole year. It yields 3.0%. In a month, however, it yields 6.0%. Here are two ways that could have happened:
- Alpha Corp. doubled its dividend to $1.50 per share quarterly, good for a $6-per-share annual dividend. The share price stays the same. ($6 / $100 x 100 = 6.0%)
- Alpha Corp. kept its dividend at 75¢ quarterly ($3 annually), but its share price plunged in half to $50 per share. ($3 / $50 x 100 = 6.0%)
In one of those scenarios, Alpha Corp. has a very safe dividend. In the other one, Alpha’s dividend could be ready to implode.
So, if you’re sniffing out the best dividend stocks to buy for 2026, make sure you’re not just looking at yield, but also gauging a dividend’s safety. Among other things, you’ll want to look at payout ratio, which determines what percentage of a company’s profits, distributable cash flow, and other financial metrics (depending on the type of stock) are being used to finance the dividend. Generally speaking, the lower the payout ratio, the more sustainable the payout.
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How I Chose the Best Dividend Stocks to Buy
Before I started this article, I was video calling a colleague and joked, in a pseudo-philosophical voice, “What is a good dividend stock, anyways?”
But I was only partly kidding. What’s ideal to one investor might not fit the bill for another. Ultimately, though, I coalesced around safe dividends, with some capacity to grow, sporting above-average yields, paid by larger (and thus likelier to be more stable) companies. Specifically, they have to …
- Be in the S&P 500.
- Have a yield greater than 1.5%, to ensure they’re better than the overall market. Most of the stocks on this list yield more than 2%, some north of 3%,and one yields more than 5%. (If that’s too low a baseline yield for you, I suggest you instead read our list of high-yield dividend stocks, where 5%-plus yields are the norm.)
- Have an earnings payout ratio below 70%. This is a generally safe level where there’s still at least some room for dividend growth, and the lower the payout ratio, typically the more growth potential there is. (Note: Free cash flow payout ratio is an even better metric, but screening data for this tends to be unreliable.)
- Have at least a consensus Buy rating according to analysts tracked by S&P Global Market Intelligence. S&P boils down consensus ratings down to a numerical system where anything less than 1.5 is a Strong Buy, 1.5 to 2.5 is a Buy, between 2.5 and 3.5 is a Hold, 3.5 to 4.5 is a Sell, and anything greater than 4.5 is a Strong Sell. In this case, I only included stocks with a 2.0 rating or less—so at least a pretty firm consensus Buy rating, if not an outright Strong Buy.
I also limited the energy sector to just two stocks. Energy companies were extremely overrepresented in the screen; most problematic is that several sport variable dividends that rise and fall based on available cash flow, which is largely tethered to the motion of energy prices. So a 3% yield today could be 1% in a year, 2% the year after, and so on. The rest of the list is populated with stocks that have more traditional dividend programs—regular payouts that typically only change when the company announces a hike.
The equities here are listed in reverse order of their consensus analyst rating, starting with the worst-rated stock and ending with the best-rated stock.
Related: 8 Best High-Yield Dividend ETFs for Income-Hungry Investors
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Best Dividend Stock #10: BlackRock
- Sector: Financials
- Market cap: $162.0 billion
- Dividend yield: 2.2%
- Consensus analyst rating: 1.59 (Buy)
BlackRock (BLK) is one of the world’s largest asset management firms, boasting more than $14 trillion in assets across its many lines of business. Individual investors know it well for both its BlackRock mutual funds and closed-end funds (CEFs), as well as its iShares exchange-traded funds (ETFs). But it also manages money for institutional clients, including pension plans, foundations, charities, and insurance companies, among others.
BlackRock has been in a broader consistent uptrend since the depths of the Great Recession, and that has come alongside similar progression in both the company’s top and bottom lines. There have been a few hiccups along the way, of course, such as COVID and early 2026’s market downturn—but analysts frequently call out these dips as reasons to buy BLK shares.
In fact, it’s difficult to find any Wall Street pros with something negative to say about BlackRock right now despite the fact that BLK remains in the red so far in 2026. Shares currently enjoy 14 Buy calls versus three Holds and no Sells.
“We believe that BLK remains well positioned to deliver above-peer organic growth given its unmatched product breadth and distribution footprint (helped by its iShares franchise),” say Keefe, Bruyette & Woods analysts Aidan Hall and Kyle Voigt, who rate BlackRock’s stock at Outperform (equivalent of Buy). “Also, its scale and demonstrated ability to generate operating leverage bodes well for future earnings growth and operating leverage. The firm’s increasing alternatives presence and growing technology revenue stream add further breadth to what is already a diverse product/solutions offering.”
BlackRock has been a fount of dividend growth since the Great Recession, too. In the past decade alone, BLK has managed to average 10% annual dividend growth. Its most recent hike, announced in early February 2026, was a stout 10% bump to $5.73 per share. Still, a payout ratio just below 45% of 2026 profit estimates should keep investors plenty confident in the dividend’s health and its ability to keep growing.
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Best Dividend Stock #9: Hasbro
- Sector: Consumer discretionary
- Market cap: $12.7 billion
- Dividend yield: 3.1%
- Consensus analyst rating: 1.56 (Buy)
Toys are a part of everyday life that has endured for eons. The toys might change—wooden dolls have given way to kids’ tablet computers and chemistry sets—but the desire to make a business out of entertaining children isn’t going anywhere.
Hasbro (HAS) is one of the world’s largest toy and gamemakers, offering action figures, dolls, trading cards, plush products, preschool toys, play sets, and other consumer products across dozens of both its own brands as well as third parties it has contracted with. Indeed, just a partial rundown of Hasbro’s biggest brands include the likes of Star Wars, Magic: The Gathering (MTG), Play-Doh, Transformers, Peppa Pig, Final Fantasy, The Lord of the Rings, The Avengers, Nerf, and Monopoly.
Hasbro appears to be clawing its way out of a prolonged earnings slump, posting nine consecutive quarters of profit growth. That hasn’t come without bumps—shares slumped in May after the company beat Q1 earnings estimates but provided conservative guidance amid high oil prices and an uncertain tariff situation. However, strength in the firm’s Wizards of the Coast (responsible for MTG) and Digital Gaming arm, which represents 45% of revenues, has helped carry the firm.
“Momentum in Magic trading cards is a key tenet of the Hasbro investment case,” writes Xian Siew, BNP Paribas Equity Research Senior Analyst, who rates the stock at Outperform (equivalent of Buy). “These cards are seeing strong revenue growth and carry higher margins. In Q1, Magic grew ~35% year-over-year, supported by strength in sets like Lorwyn and distribution gains. We think this momentum continues into Q2 supported by the Secrets of Strixhaven set.”
Siew represents one of 13 Buy-equivalent calls on HAS stock, versus just three Holds and no Sells, putting it among the best dividend stocks to buy right now.
Speaking of dividends: Hasbro’s cash distribution has either remained steady or grown every year for a quarter-century. Its current 70¢ quarterly dole comes out to a well-above-average yield of 3.1%, and represents just about half of this year’s projected earnings—a plenty comfortable cushion that should at least allow Hasbro to maintain the dividend at current levels, if not modestly raise in the future.
Related: 15 Best Long-Term Stocks to Buy and Hold Forever
Best Dividend Stock #8: Bunge Global
- Sector: Consumer staples
- Market cap: $23.0 billion
- Dividend yield: 2.3%
- Consensus analyst rating: 1.56 (Buy)
Bunge Global (BG) is a leading agribusiness and food company, operating across the entire agricultural supply chain through its many subsidiaries. All told, its operations span roughly 23,000 employees across more than 300 facilities in over 40 countries.
The U.S.-headquartered but Switzerland-incorporated firm is a leading global oilseed processor and producer of vegetable oils and protein meals. It sources, processes, and distributes grains such as soybeans, wheat, and corn. It produces agricultural products such as fertilizers and sugars. And that’s just some of what this ag giant does.
Bunge has been a “patience stock” for years thanks to lower margins on crush (the process that produces soybean oil and protein meal), as well as delays to its proposed mega-acquisition of Canadian grain handling business Viterra. However, investors who have had patience are finally seeing the payoff, with the stock up more than 50% over the past year amid optimism over renewable volume obligation (RVO) and the 2025 closing of its Viterra deal.
“We attended BG’s Investor Day, at which management updated its mid-cycle EPS [earnings per share] baseline including Viterra to ~$13 (from ~$8.50) and laid out a framework to achieve $15-plus mid-cycle EPS baseline by 2030,” says BMO Capital Markets Analyst Andrew Strelzik, who rates the stock at Outperform. “We came away with greater confidence in BG’s multi-year earnings trajectory. We remain constructive as BG is poised to realize an inflection in fundamentals beginning in 2026 from which it can grow, and the multi-year earnings opportunity is not yet fully reflected in shares.”
Strelzik is one of eight analysts with a Buy-equivalent rating on Bunge. That compares well against just one Hold and no Sells.
Bunge, meanwhile, can pay investors at least a modest sum for their patience. The 2%-plus yield, on a quarterly dividend of 70¢ per share, is about a percentage point better than what you’ll get from the S&P 500. That dividend has also grown by a decent 40% over the past five years, and it’s as safe as you could want it, with Bunge maintaining a conservative payout ratio of 35% of 2026 profit estimates.
Related: 10 Best Dividend Mutual Funds You Can Buy Now
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Best Dividend Stock #7: Avery Dennison
- Sector: Consumer discretionary
- Market cap: $11.9 billion
- Dividend yield: 2.6%
- Consensus analyst rating: 1.55 (Buy)
Avery Dennison (AVY) is a materials science and digital identification solutions provider—an odd bird, but one with a ton of practical applications.
For instance, it offers pressure-sensitive label materials, performance tapes, and other adhesive-based materials. It provides graphics and reflective products for commercial sign companies, digital printers, and architectural firms. It makes reflective films that are used in traffic and safety, pressure-sensitive vinyl and specialty materials for digital imaging. But it’s also a leader in radio-frequency identification (RFID), which companies like Walmart (WMT) can use in inventory management and supply chain visibility.
Avery Dennison technically belongs to the consumer discretionary sector, but it has elements of materials and industrials. All of that still makes it a cyclical business whose top and bottom lines can ebb and flow from one year to the next. Regardless, it has built up a 16-year streak of consecutive dividend increases, making it not just one of the best dividend stocks to buy now, but one of the best dividend-growth stocks, too.
The most recent improvement, announced in late April 2026, was a 6% hike to an even $1 per share. The distribution represents only 40% of its expected earnings for 2026, which provides some flexibility.
The announcement came just a couple days after it reported a strong first quarter.
“AVY posted a better set of 1Q results than expected and a better guide than feared,” says John P. McNulty, U.S. Chemicals Analyst at BMO Capital Markets, who rates the stock at Outperform (equivalent of Buy). “With a conservative bar set for 2Q, solid handle on price/cost issues, as well as an acceleration of growth in 2H for its IL business, we see the outlook for AVY as positive as the year progresses.”
BMO is just one of nine Buys on the stock. The other two analysts covering AVY call it a Hold.
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Best Dividend Stock #6: Ventas
- Sector: Real estate
- Market cap: $43.0 billion
- Dividend yield: 2.2%
- Consensus analyst rating: 1.52 (Buy)
Ventas (VTR) is one of the market’s largest healthcare landlords, boasting more than 1,400 properties in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. This includes more than 850 senior housing communities, with the rest spread across outpatient medical, research, hospitals, long-term acute care, in-patient rehabilitation, and skilled-nursing facilities.
In short: Ventas sits at the intersection of a number of “necessary” healthcare properties.
Real estate broadly took a hit from the COVID pandemic, but operators like Ventas were among the hardest hit. VTR in specific hemorrhaged roughly three-quarters of its value in less than two months as residents fled its senior housing and skilled-nursing facilities. That prompted its push into medical office real estate, which provided some stability. But the demographics that lifted senior housing and nursing operators certainly didn’t disappear, and now those properties are back in the spotlight.
Ventas isn’t resting on this tailwind, however; it’s also maximizing its senior housing properties by converting many of them from triple-net lease (NNN)—where tenants are responsible for taxes, maintenance, and insurance, and Ventas just cashes a check—to its more actively managed Senior Housing Operating Portfolio (SHOP). These SHOP properties have so far been a significant driver of net operating income (NOI).
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“With an ever-aging population and a growing demand for senior living, the company has been returning to its core focus of private-pay senior living communities,” Argus Research analyst Marie Ferguson (Buy) says. “Ventas SHOP assets include independent living, assisted living, and memory care environments, many with high-end amenities which add pricing power. … A solid balance sheet and asset sales will help fund portfolio development. The SHOP segment has momentum and is expected to drive growth in 2026, from NOI [net operating income] growth and from the contributions of $2.5 billion in new investment in 2025.”
“The external growth recovery that we expected for the overall REIT group has been inconsistent, which arguably makes VTR’s external growth dynamic stand out a bit more to us,” add JPMorgan analysts, who rate the stock at Overweight (equivalent of Buy).
Importantly, Ventas is a real estate investment trust (REIT). REITs are structured differently than regular businesses. They receive significant tax breaks, but in return, they must pay out at least 90% of their taxable income back to shareholders in the form of dividends. While VTR was forced to slash its dividend ruing COVID, from 79¢ per share to 45¢, the company finally delivered positive movement in 2025, announcing a 6.7% hike to the payout, to 48¢ per share. The company followed that up with an 8.3% boost to 52¢ in Q1 2026.
Also, unlike regular stocks, with which we use profits or free cash flow to determine payout ratio, REIT dividend coverage is typically gauged by funds from operations (FFO), a metric of profitability that falls outside of generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) standards. FFO payout ratio standards are somewhat different, with 70% to 80% considered quite healthy. VTR pays out only about 55% of normalized FFO (NFFO) estimates for 2026, which is pretty conservative.
Meanwhile, VTR enjoys 17 Buy calls versus four Holds and no Sells, which is good enough to put Ventas not only on this list of elite dividend stocks, but also the best REITs you can buy now.
Best Dividend Stock #5: Cigna
- Sector: Healthcare
- Market cap: $75.2 billion
- Dividend yield: 2.1%
- Consensus analyst rating: 1.50 (Strong Buy)
Cigna Group (CI) is perhaps best known for the Cigna brand, which is one of America’s largest health insurers, offering health, dental, and other plans. But Cigna actually makes up less than half of Cigna Group’s revenues—60% come from its Evernorth Health Services unit, which includes its Express Scripts pharmacy and pharmacy benefit management businesses, Accredo specialty pharmacy, MDLive telehealth, and more.
“Cigna’s managed care portfolio targets strong growth business lines, and is highly diversified, with a relative concentration in the stable [administrative services only] business,” says Oppenheimer, which rates shares at Outperform. “We believe the market is undervaluing the opportunity from the highly accretive Express Scripts deal, which should pay strong long-term returns for shareholders given the diversification, opportunity to cross-sell its services, and a more equity-friendly capital structure. Furthermore, Cigna typically trades at a discount to its peers, leaving upside from multiple expansion.”
Oppenheimer is among 21 Buy-equivalent calls on the stock, which compares nicely to just three Holds and no Sells. Also among the bulls is BofA Global Research analyst Kevin Fischbeck, who believes the company’s pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) business is misunderstood.
“The market appears to be concerned about a race to the bottom on PBM margins, but we haven’t seen any evidence of margin compression outside of the largest accounts,” he says. “Meanwhile, CI screens cheap even assuming the implementation costs don’t go away over time and despite what we see as an improved PBM business (extended contracts, derisked legislatively, PBM a smaller part of earnings).”
Unlike many of the dividend stocks on this list, Cigna doesn’t have a particularly illustrious dividend history. In 2004, the company cut its quarterly payout by 92%, to 2.5¢ per share (adjusted for its 3-for-1 stock split in 2007). Then in 2008, the company transitioned to 4¢ annual dividends, which lasted until 2021, when Cigna announced a new quarterly dividend of $1 per share. Since then, the company has raised its payout by another 56%, to $1.56 per share.
Cigna certainly has more headroom for higher dividends going forward—the company’s current payout represents just 20% of 2026’s expected earnings.
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Best Dividend Stock #4: Targa Resources
- Sector: Energy
- Market cap: $53.9 billion
- Dividend yield: 1.6%
- Consensus analyst rating: 1.41 (Strong Buy)
Targa Resources (TRGP) deals in the midstream energy market segment—alongside its subsidiary, Targa Resource Partners LP, it owns a wide array of gathering, processing, logistics, and transportation assets across numerous natural resource plays, including the Permian Basin, Bakken Shale, Anadarko Basin, and the Gulf of Mexico, among others. The Permian Basin is arguably Targa’s biggest growth driver; roughly 3 in 5 lower-48 U.S. shale rigs are located there, and about 80% of Targa’s natural gas inlet volumes are sourced from there.
Targa went public in 2010, peaked in 2014, cratered, then largely hovered for a few years after that. But after bottoming out during COVID, the stock has roared back to life and nearly doubled in 2024 to hit all-time highs. After flatlining in 2025, shares have exploded upward by 45% in 2026, and the analyst community remains wildly bullish: 19 Buys dwarf just three Hold calls and no Sells, making TRGP one of the market’s best dividend stocks to buy right now.
Much of this can be attributed to Targa’s positioning in the Permian.
“We believe Targa is executing at all levels,” say Stifel analysts (Buy), who reaffirmed their Buy rating after TRGP reported in-line Q1 results and raised its 2026 guidance for EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization). “Targa, servicing the largest producers with strong economics, continues to push volumes on its system higher. In addition, TRGP continues to augment their footprint through acquisitions. As a result TRGP is confident in its EBITDA growth over several years.”
Energy infrastructure stocks are a different breed. Many of them are master limited partnerships (MLPs), which are required to return a majority of their income to unitholders (shares in MLPs) in the form of distributions (dividend-like payments to shareholders that have different tax consequences). Targa is technically a corporation, though, so it pays dividends like a traditional stock.
In April, the company announced a 25% increase to its dividend, to $1.25 per share. That comes out to 45% of 2026 earnings projections.
Related: The 9 Best Dividend Stocks for Beginners
Best Dividend Stock #3: Devon Energy
- Sector: Energy
- Market cap: $56.4 billion
- Dividend yield: 2.6%
- Consensus analyst rating: 1.48 (Strong Buy)
Energy businesses are typically referred to by their “stream.” Upstream companies search for and extract oil, gas, and other raw energy resources; midstream companies transport, store, and sometimes process those resources; and downstream companies refine these resources into final products such as gasoline, diesel, and natural gas liquids (NGLs).
Devon Energy (DVN) is an upstream firm—an independent oil and natural gas exploration and production (E&P) firm that operates in some of America’s most potent locations, including the Delaware Basin, Anadarko Basin and Eagle Ford.
DVN has also become much bigger thanks to the company’s recent merger with Coterra Energy. Devon says that on a pro forma basis, the combined company’s 2025 daily production was about 548,000 barrels of oil, 348,000 barrels of natural gas liquids, and about 4.3 billion cubic feet of natural gas.
E&P companies are more beholden to commodity prices than the other “streams,” so as oil and nat gas prices go, so go their shares. Their differences boil down to operational efficiency, and Devon Energy is among the best, according to Wall Street analysts, who as a group have 20 Buys on the stock against five Holds and no Sells.
“DVN has multiple catalysts for absolute and relative outperformance post-[Coterra] close, but attracting long-only capital requires clearer focus on durable core assets,” say Jefferies analysts, who recently upgraded the stock to Buy from Hold. “Divesting non-core, particularly the Marcellus (likely commanding a premium to current valuation), could eliminate debt and boost returns.”
Devon Energy celebrated the acquisition by announcing an $8 billion share buyback authorization and hiking its dividend by 33%, to 32¢ per share quarterly. That comes out to just 25% of this year’s expected earnings—a conservative payout ratio that offers plenty of dividend stability and room for expansion.
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Best Dividend Stock #2: Bank of America
- Sector: Financials
- Market cap: $363.2 billion
- Dividend yield: 2.2%
- Consensus analyst rating: 1.48 (Strong Buy)
Bank of America (BAC) is one of the world’s largest banks, serving roughly 69 million Americans through 3,800 branches and 15,000 ATMs across 39 states. However, BofA is much, much more than its consumer business—it also provides financial products and services for small and midsized businesses, large corporations, institutional investors, and even governments. Its offerings range from checking and savings accounts to commercial loans, trade finance, treasury management, and securities clearing.
BAC shares are still well in the red after a more productive 2025. However, relatively volatile markets have helped push trading revenues higher, loans are growing, and the company’s net interest margin (NIM) picture is improving.
“Management continues to focus on what it terms ‘responsible growth.’ We believe this may be seen in the company’s ability to expand its loan portfolio without taking on excessive credit risk, and to balance growth across segments so that more volatile businesses, such as trading and investment banking, do not account for an outsized portion of profits,” says Argus Research analyst Stephen Biggar (Buy). “We believe that the current BAC share price undervalues the franchise given ongoing improvement in return metrics and continued positive operating leverage.”
“BAC echoed peer bank comments that the U.S. consumer remains resilient,” add Morgan Stanley analysts, who rate the stock at Overweight. “Consumer spend at BAC improved 5% year-over-year in 1Q26, with improvement across every platform at the bank. Debit and credit spend volume improved 6% YoY, led by entertainment up 12%, travel up 6%, and retail up 5%. BAC noted that the U.S. consumer is supported by low unemployment, strong home and asset prices, and elevated savings.”
Analysts have only gotten more bullish on the Big Four bank amid its recent declines, with the stock now boasting 22 Buys against just three Holds and no Sells. As for the dividend? Bank of America has raised its cash distribution by 55% between 2020 and today. Most recently, it announced a roughly 8% hike, to 28¢ per share, effective as of the September 2025 payout. That dividend is very well-covered at just 25% of 2026’s expected earnings.
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Best Dividend Stock #1: Citizens Financial Group
- Sector: Financials
- Market cap: $26.4 billion
- Dividend yield: 3.0%
- Consensus analyst rating: 1.44 (Strong Buy)
Citizens Financial Group (CFG) is the holding company behind Citizens Bank, a large regional bank with roughly 1,000 branches serving 14 East Coast and Midwest states as well as Washington, D.C. It provides a wide variety of consumer and commercial banking services, including deposits, mortgages, credit cards, business loans, wealth management, foreign exchange, corporate finance, and more.
One noteworthy area of growth for CFG is Citizens Private Bank, which offers personal banking, wealth management, and other services to people with at least $10 million in net worth and at least $5 million in liquid assets. Since launching near the end of 2023, Private Bank has accumulated $16.6 billion in deposits, $7.7 billion in loans, and $10.1 billion in client assets.
“Positive policies around deregulation, looser capital requirements, and more stress test transparency stand to benefit CFG,” says Argus’s Heal, who rates Citizens’ shares at Buy. “Management has remained confident that Private Bank will deliver 20% to 25% return on equity for FY26. Additionally, the bank continues to show strong performance in the New York metro region.”
“Among large regional banks, our bias is to own stocks with 1) above-average EPS growth, 2) above-average NII growth, and 3) improving loan/deposit growth dynamics—all of which CFG possesses today,” add Keefe, Bruyette & Woods analysts, who rate the stock at Outperform. “We concede that CFG’s valuation discount has all but been eliminated, but we remain constructive on the 400 [basis points] of ‘high confidence ROTCE improvement’ that is set to unfold over the next two years.”
All told, CFG has a broad bull camp of 17 Buys versus one Hold and no Sells, putting it at the tippy top of the S&P 500’s best dividend stocks right now.
Citizens Financial has paid a dividend every year since its initial public offering (IPO) in 2014. Its dividend-growth history is less consistent; nonetheless, the quarterly payout has improved by 360% since its initial 10¢ payout. Most recently, in October 2025, it announced a 9.5% improvement to the dividend, to 46¢ per share. It’s a very well-covered payout that represents about 35% of Citizens’ anticipated profits for 2026.
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