7 Best High-Yield Dividend Stocks: The Pros’ Picks for 2025

It’s difficult to resist the charm of high-yield dividend stocks. Their ability to generate outsized amounts of cash makes them the stuff of dreams for those living on a fixed income—as well as for any investors who simply want a little performance ballast during periods of rough stock-price returns.

But if you simply target the fattest dividend yields and call it a day, you’re in for a rude awakening.

There’s a reason risk is so often mentioned alongside reward. A stock offering several times more yield than the market average might very well be the undiscovered can’t-miss stock pick of the year … or it might be flashing a signal that many investors have passed it up for a reason. And sure, a very high yield can help make up for some underperformance in the stock price—but only if the dividend continues to be paid. Some high-dividend stocks have unsustainable payouts that are just an earnings miss or economic downturn away from collapse.

I’m not saying you should run screaming from any stock that offers an outsized payday. I’m just saying you shouldn’t buy them on yield alone. Quality matters, too.

Today, I’ll examine a group of high-yield dividend stocks that are showing more signs of fundamental quality than most. Not only do they deliver much sweeter yields than your average stock, but they also have the confidence of Wall Street’s analyst community.

Disclaimer: This article does not constitute individualized investment advice. These securities appear for your consideration and not as personalized investment recommendations. Act at your own discretion.

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Dividend Yields (And Dividend Safety)

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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.

Consider this. Let’s say you have a $1 million nest egg heading into retirement. If your portfolio yields 3%, you’ll collect $30,000 in dividend and interest income each year. If it yields 6%, though, you’ll collect $60,000—a dramatically higher number that would change your retirement calculus.

But dividend yields can be deceiving. 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:

1. 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%)
2. 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 which scenario do you think the 6% yield is safer?

That’s why you should always be mindful of dividend safety, but especially when it comes to high-yield dividend stocks. That’s because oftentimes, the dividend is a more significant contributor to returns than price, so any danger to the dividend could undermine your investment thesis.

Thus, it’s vital that any high-dividend stocks you buy are financially stable and can generate substantial profits and cash, which is how the dividend gets paid. 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.

Related: Direct Indexing: A (Tax-) Smarter Way to Index Your Investments

7 Highly Rated High-Yield Dividend Stocks

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Today, I’m going to look at several high-dividend stocks yielding at least 5%—a level that’s more than four times what the S&P 500 offers currently, and that’s well above most traditional high-dividend ETFs. Actually, several of these stocks yield much more than 5% … resulting in an average dividend yield of nearly 9% across this list!

Every stock on this list also has a favorable view from Wall Street’s analyst community. The consensus analyst rating, courtesy of S&P Global Market Intelligence, is the average of all known analyst ratings of the stock, boiled down to a numerical system where …

• Less than 1.5 = Strong Buy
• 1.5-2.5 = Buy
• 2.5-3.5 = Hold
• 3.5-4.5 = Sell
• More than 4.5 = Strong Sell

In short, the lower the number, the better the overall consensus view on the stock. In the case of this list, I’ve included only stocks that have received a 2 or lower—in other words, clear-cut Buys in the analysts’ eyes.

Importantly: These are the best dividend stocks among companies that pay pretty high yields, but that doesn’t make any pick here a no-brainer slam dunk. They all have a blemish or two—whether it’s significant stock weakness of late, interest-rate risk, tight dividend coverage, or something else—but to the pros, at least, their high yields, relative value, and/or growth potential make the risk worth taking. So if you’re going to jump into high-yield investing, just make sure you do so with your eyes wide open.

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.

High-Yield Dividend Stock #7: Pembina Pipeline

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• Industry: Energy midstream
• Market capitalization: $21.2 billion
• Dividend yield: 7.5%
• Consensus analyst rating: 2.00 (Buy)

Pipeline companies are a popular play among income hunters given the nature of their business.

Many traditional energy stocks are tightly tied to the price of oil, natural gas, and other underlying commodities—for instance, if the price of oil sinks, an oil producer will earn much less profit on the oil it’s producing. However, pipelines and other energy infrastructure companies are more like toll collectors, making their money when energy commodities flow through their systems. As a result, they’re somewhat less sensitive to energy-price swings. They’re also able to generate ample free cash flow, which is often used to fund generous dividend programs.

Pembina Pipeline (PBA) is one such pipeline play—a massive Canadian energy infrastructure firm whose assets include 18,000 kilometers of hydrocarbon liquids and natural gas pipelines, natural gas processing and NGL fractionation facilities, export terminals, and more. Most of its operations are located in British Columbia and Alberta, though its pipelines extend into the northern U.S.

Pembina is the lowest-rated of our high-yield dividend stocks, and not for nothing. While analysts are still generally bullish on the name, their optimism isn’t as pronounced as it was when we first included PBA on this list.

For instance, Ben Pham, Energy Infrastructure Analyst with BMO Capital Markets, maintained his Outperform rating (equivalent of Buy) on Pembina’s Toronto Stock Exchange-listed PPL shares, but slightly lowered his price target and shifted shares out of the BMO Top 5 Best Ideas roster.

“[Earnings before interest, taxes, amortization, and depreciation] per share through 2026 and relative valuation remain attractive, but 2025 EBITDA [guidance] was a tad soft,” he says. “We believe the CER review of Alliance tolls could weigh on shares in the near-term, especially following the recent unfavorable recontracting outcome on the Cochin pipeline.”

CFRA (Hold) is also wary of near-term performance thanks to “woeful” local natural gas prices in western Canada, but points out longer-term that Pembina’s LNG Canada and proposed Cedar LNG project sets up Pembina well for rising demand for natural gas out of the region.

Still, Wall Street is overall bullish on PBA’s prospects, with the company earning 11 Buy calls versus six Holds and no Sells. And the high-dividend stock covers its payout well, too. The company expects its payout will come to 70% of fee-based distributable cash flow (DCF)—a common accounting metric among pipelines that helps determine the sustainability of a dividend.

Related: How to Retire Without Investing in the Stock Market

High-Yield Dividend Stock #6: Dynex Capital

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• Industry: Mortgage REIT
• Market capitalization: $1.0 billion
• Dividend yield: 14.3%
• Consensus analyst rating: 1.71 (Buy)

Dynex Capital (DX) isn’t just a mortgage real estate investment trust (mREIT)—it’s the longest-tenured mREIT, founded in 1987.

Most REITs that you read about tend to be “equity REITs,” which deal in physical real estate. Specifically, they own (and sometimes operate or manage) properties, whether that’s apartments, office buildings, hotels, warehouses, you name it. But “mortgage REITs” deal in paper real estate. That typically takes the form of residential and/or commercial mortgages, as well as mortgage-backed securities (MBSes). 

A very cursory explanation: A mREIT will borrow money at short-term interest rates. It will take that money and buy mortgages, MBSes, and/or other mortgage-related securities. It will then earn income from the interest generated by these products—and use much of this profit to pay dividends to its shareholders. In fact, mREITs tend to have higher dividend yields than their traditional real estate cousins.

Dynex is explicitly an “agency” mREIT, which means it deals in mortgages and MBSes from government agencies such as Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. In fact, its portfolio is 97% agency residential MBSes (RMBSes), and the lion’s share of the remainder is agency commercial MBSes (CMBSes).

Keefe, Bruyette and Woods, which rates Dynex at Outperform, is broadly bullish on agency MBS sectors. “Agency MBS spreads remain close to historical wides, which should support low- to mid-teen returns on incremental investments,” KBW analysts say. “We believe that companies are well-positioned to capitalize on the attractive investing environment given the low leverage across the sector. Additionally, given the uncertainty in the equity and debt markets, we think double-digit returns from the agency MBS REITs appear compelling and could outperform the financial sector.”

KBW is just one of a handful of analyst outfits that cover Dynex, which is typical for the mREIT industry. Still, among these few pros, the bulls are the majority—DX has five buys versus two Holds and no Sells.

Dynex pays a monthly dividend, and a generous one at that—14%-plus as I write this. However, mortgage REITs tend to have shakier dividend histories than traditional stocks and even equity REITs, and DX is no exception. Its dividend was hacked away by 85% between 2012 and 2020, to 13 cents per share monthly, where it remained until mid-2024. At that point, Dynex announced its first dividend raise in more than a decade—to 15 cents per share.

Still, that payout history is an important reminder that double-digit yields are hardly risk-free.

Related: 8 Best Dividend ETFs to Buy for Diversified Income

High-Yield Dividend Stock #5: Crescent Capital BDC

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• Industry: BDC
• Market capitalization: $732.0 million
• Dividend yield: 10.4%*
• Consensus analyst rating: 1.67 (Buy)

Crescent Capital BDC (CCAP) belongs to another high-yielding acronym industry: business development companies (BDCs).

Fun fact: Congress is actually responsible for the creation of real estate investment trusts, which were brought to life in 1960 with a mandate to return at least 90% of their taxable income back to shareholders as dividends (in exchange for favorable tax treatment). Well, 20 years later, in the hopes of spurring investment in smaller businesses, Congress went back to the same playbook and created BDCs—with the same dividend mandate.

Crescent Capital provides financing to private middle-market firms that on average generate $27 million in annual EBITDA. Its portfolio companies are spread across roughly a couple dozen industries, though it’s particularly thick in health care equipment and services, software and services, and commercial and professional services firms. Almost 90% of its deals involve first-lien debt, though it also deals in second-lien and unsecured debt, equity, and other forms of financing.

Perhaps most important at the moment is that almost all (98%) of its debt investments are floating-rate in nature, meaning that their rates change alongside changes in benchmark interest rates. That’s a plus in the eyes of Oppenheimer, which rates CCAP at Outperform: “BDCs with a higher percentage of floating-rate debt relative to floating-rate assets are likely least impacted by falling rates as the cost of floating-rate debt falls along with the portfolio yield.”

“We view CCAP as a defensively positioned BDC given the composition of its portfolio, which is heavily weighted toward first-lien investments in less cyclical industries,” adds KBW (Outperform). “While the economic backdrop is uncertain, we believe CCAP has positioned its core portfolio defensively with loans high in the capital structure to defensive industries. This defensive core portfolio combined with a compelling valuation, which we believe already factors in significant credit deterioration, drives our Outperform rating.”

Those two analyst firms represent two of CCAP’s five Buys, which compare to a lone Hold and zero Sells.

* CCAP’s yield includes the effects of variable supplemental dividends, which are 50% of quarterly net investment income in excess of Crescent’s regular quarterly dividend, “subject to certain measurement tests” and rounded to the nearest penny. Based only on the core dividend of 42 cents per share, CCAP yields 8.5%.

Related: The 15 Best ETFs to Buy for a Prosperous 2025

High-Yield Dividend Stock #4: Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP

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• Industry: Utilities and infrastructure
• Market capitalization: $14.6 billion
• Distribution yield: 5.1%*
• Consensus analyst rating: 1.58 (Buy)

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP (BIP) is a wide-ranging conglomerate of infrastructure spread across four continents. Its primary divisions include:

• Utilities: 4,200 kilometers of natural gas pipelines, 2,900 kilometers of electricity transmission lines, 8.1 million electricity and nat-gas connections, and more.
• Transport: 37,300 kilometers of rail, 3,300 kilometers of toll roads, 7 million intermodal containers, and more.
• Midstream: 25,600 kilometers of gathering, transmission, and transportation pipelines, 570 billion cubic feet (bcf) of natural gas storage and 5.7 bcf/day of natural-gas liquids (NGL) processing capacity
• Data: 300,000-plus telecom towers, 54,000 kilometers of fiber optic cable, 140 data centers, 2 chipmaking foundries, and more.

While not a REIT, Brookfield Infrastructure uses funds from operations (FFO) to measure its performance, and on that front, the company has not disappointed. Its FFO has grown by 15% annually on average since 2009, and was on track to finish higher by double digits for full-year 2024. Better still, the vast majority (85%) of FFO is either protected from or indexed to inflation—a nice bit of defense.

Regardless, BIP units lost nearly 50% of their value between April 2022—shortly after the Federal Reserve began raising interest rates from their near-zero floor—and October 2023. That’s no coincidence; infrastructure plays suffer mightily from higher rates, as it raises their cost of debt. And in the case of higher-yielding plays like BIP, ramped-up rates also make bonds look much more attractive than BIP’s dividend from a risk-reward perspective.

Unsurprisingly, expectations for interest-rate cuts (and the cuts themselves) jolted BIP shares to life for the past year or so, and analysts are overwhelmingly positive on the stock going forward—right now, 10 pros say it’s a Buy, versus two Holds and no Sells.

“In our view, the portfolio companies are performing well and there is improving visibility into near-term monetization activity,” says BMO Capital Markets industrials analyst Devin Dodge, who rates units at Outperform. “Meanwhile, BIP has a rich pipeline of capital deployment opportunities which should support elevated FFO/unit growth and returns above its targeted range of 12%-15%.”

Another sign of optimism for income investors: The company raised its payout by 8% last February, to 40.5¢ per unit—good for a 5%-plus yield at current prices. That puts its payout ratio around 70%, which is within its long-term target range, albeit on the upper limit.

You’ll probably notice that I’ve been referring to “units.” That’s because BIP is a master limited partnership (MLP), which trades like a stock but is internally organized differently. It also uses a few different terms. For instance, shares are “units,” and it pays a dividend-esque “distribution” that can be something of a hassle from a taxation standpoint, especially for novices. However, Brookfield is a rare bird in that it offers a way around this: Brookfield Infrastructure Corporation (BIPC) shares, which pay the qualified dividends you’re used to from normal stocks.

* Distribution yield is calculated by annualizing the most recent distribution and dividing by share price. Distributions are like dividends, but they are treated as tax-deferred returns of capital and require different tax paperwork.

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Related: How to Choose a Financial Advisor

High-Yield Dividend Stock #3: Energy Transfer LP

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• Industry: Energy midstream
• Market capitalization: $66.0 billion
• Distribution yield: 6.7%
• Consensus analyst rating: 1.47 (Strong Buy)

Another high-yielding energy infrastructure play is Energy Transfer LP (ET), one of the continent’s largest midstream energy firms. The Dallas-based MLP’s assets include roughly 130,000 miles of energy pipelines and other infrastructure across 44 states, responsible for transporting and storing crude oil, natural gas, NGLs, and refined products. Its additional assets include Lake Charles LNG Company, a 21% stake in Sunoco LP (SUN), and a 39% stake in USA Compression Partners LP (USAC).

Energy Transfer has walloped the broader energy-infrastructure industry since the COVID bear-market bottom, delivering a total return of more than 500% versus the MLP benchmark’s 330%.

“Over the last several years, ET has focused on reducing debt while finishing a campaign of large capital investments,” say Stifel analysts, who rate the stock at Buy. “With the upturn in the commodity environment and production on the rise across the U.S., Energy Transfer is poised to generate significant free cash flow. We believe investors will be well served by owning ET as demand for U.S. energy increases around the globe.”

Especially promising is ET’s positioning to meet growing demand for natural gas to generate electricity.

“Currently, ET is connected either directly or indirectly to 185 plants,” Stifel’s analysts say. “It is seeing requests to connect to approximately 45 more power plants across 11 states which would consume up to an additional 6 Bcf/d of natural gas. Lastly, it has requests to connect to 40 plus data centers across 10 states that would require an additional 10 bcf/d of natural gas.”

This promise has 16 of ET’s 17 covering analysts in the Buy camp. The lone dissenter is a Hold.

As for the distribution? For those who don’t remember, Energy Transfer chopped its payout in half in 2020 during the depths of COVID. However, it started a quarterly dividend growth streak in 2022—one that has persisted even after it surpassed post-COVID distribution levels in late 2023.

Energy Transfer says it’s committed to growing the distribution even more going forward, though it’s taking an understandably cautious approach, targeting 3% to 5% annual growth. Distribution coverage is plenty adequate; estimates for distributable cash flow are just a little less than twice what it needs to afford its payout.

Related: 15 Best Investing Research & Stock Analysis Websites

High-Yield Dividend Stock #2: Rithm Capital

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• Industry: Mortgage REIT and alternative asset management
• Market capitalization: $5.8 billion
• Dividend yield: 9.2%
• Consensus analyst rating: 1.50 (Buy)

Rithm Capital (RITM) is technically a mortgage REIT, though it looks much different than Dynex. This “hybrid” mREIT has numerous businesses, including alternative asset management. RITM invests in residential mortgages loans, consumer loans, single-family rentals, mortgage servicing rights (MSRs), residential transitional loans, secured lending and structured products, and commercial real estate.

It’s an utterly transformed company from just a few years ago. Per Argus Research:

“The company has transformed its business model since the financing crisis in late March 2020. It continues to grow its mortgage servicing business while also taking advantage of new debt-related investment opportunities. RITM has acquired a 50% stake in GreenBarn Investment Group, a commercial real estate equity and debt investment management firm, purchased $1.4 billion of Marcus consumer loans from Goldman Sachs for $145 million, and completed the acquisition of Computershare Mortgage Services Inc. and certain affiliated companies, including Specialized Loan Servicing LLC (SLS) for approximately $720 million. Its acquisition of $33 billion alternative asset manager Sculptor Capital Management was completed in 4Q23.”

The pros love the new-look RITM. Currently, 11 analysts have Buy ratings on the stock, versus a lone Hold and zero Sells.

B. Riley recently reiterated its Buy rating, citing a number of positives, including favorable capital deployment into commercial real estate markets, $2 billion in liquidity, and continued market-share growth in RITM’s mortgage lending and servicing arm, NewRez.

The firm is also bullish in Rithm’s ability to afford its 9%-plus payout, which puts RITM among the highest-paying dividend stocks on our list. “We expect dividend coverage to continue in our modeling horizon following a more than 2x coverage in 3Q24,” B. Riley’s analysts say. “We continue to emphasize the discipline and growth of RITM to be beneficial to shareholders.”

Related: Don’t Make These 7 Mistakes When Choosing a Financial Advisor

High-Yield Dividend Stock #1: CTO Realty Growth

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• Industry: Retail and mixed-use REIT
• Market capitalization: $581.4 million
• Dividend yield: 7.8%
• Consensus analyst rating: 1.00 (Strong Buy)

CTO Realty Growth (CTO) is a retail-oriented REIT that holds a tight portfolio of 20 properties spanning 3.7 million square feet across eight Southeast and Southwest states.

It divides its portfolio into three types of properties: grocery-anchored retail, retail “power centers,” and retail-focused lifestyle and mixed-used properties. Its properties are also located in and near affluent areas—the portfolio average household income within five miles is $136,000—many of which are benefitting from booming population growth.

The company has actually existed in one form or another since 1902, and it has been paying dividends for nearly half a century. But it really put the pedal down on dividend payments when it converted into a REIT in 2020. The company paid 12¢ per share across 2019; in 2024, it paid $1.52.

The stock has largely responded, with an 80% total return over the past five years versus just 25% for the REIT benchmark.

The small group of analysts who cover CTO Realty Growth see more good times ahead. Indeed, they’re unanimously bullish—all seven call the stock a Buy.

In October, B. Riley Financial analyst John Massocca (Buy), said the REIT “trades at far and away the lowest FFO/sh and AFFO/sh multiples in the shopping center REIT subsector and one of the widest reNAV/sh discounts. While some of this can be explained by the REIT’s small market cap and elevated leverage vs. peers, we still believe the scale of the REIT’s discount is far too severe. This is especially true, in our opinion, given CTO’s robust recent investment activity, the high yields on those investments, and recent incremental reductions to leverage.” And shares have only appreciated by about 5% since then.

The dividend is in good shape, too. CTO recently provided full-year 2024 AFFO guidance of $1.96-$2.00 per share, which would easily cover the company’s $1.52 in annual dividends.

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If You’re Still Looking for High Yields, Consider Short-Term Alternative Investments

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Alternative investments is a catch-all term for any investment that doesn’t fall into the categories of stocks, bonds, or cash. It covers a wide variety of investments, from real estate to fine art to sneakers, and it has become increasingly popular as fintech services have opened up once-restrictive markets to the individual retail investor.

Often, because of the less transparent nature of these investments, they’re limited toward investors with more financial resources and understanding, namely accredited investors. These investors meet certain financial requirements (or qualify with recognized credentials) and can gain access to investments that can offer compelling risk-reward characteristics.

Below, we highlight a few options that can also deliver high yields:

EquityMultiple’s Alpine Notes (Accredited investors only)

EquityMultiple’s Alpine Notes are a savings alternative with competitive rates of return on three-, six-, and nine-month notes, providing another means of conservative diversification and short-term yield. Compared to the commercial real estate crowdfunding platform’s other investment offerings, these notes are extremely short-term in nature, and thus an optimal choice for EquityMultiple users who want better liquidity.

Percent private credit (Accredited investors only)

Percent has built a way for retail accredited investors to access a wide range of private credit opportunities with a clear view into their performance through its innovative tools and comprehensive market data. That allows investors to make better-informed decisions, source and compare opportunities, and monitor performance with ease. This platform also provides access to an alternative investment that’s a little more liquid than other alts, with some debt investments only lasting nine months, with liquidity available after the very first month in some cases.

The service targets annualized returns on unsecured notes between 12% to 18% on average and up to 20%. And while investment minimums vary, many Percent opportunities require only $500 to invest.

First National Realty Partners (Accredited investors only)

First National Realty Partners (FNRP) is one of the fastest-growing vertically integrated commercial real estate investment firms in the United States. It’s also focused on a very particular niche: grocery-anchored commercial real estate.

FNRP’s team leverages relationships with top-tier national-brand tenants—including Kroger, Walmart, Aldi, Target, and Whole Foods—to provide investors with access to institutional-quality CRE deals both on- and off-market. FNRP offers private placements that only an accredited investor can access.