10 dividend stocks yielding at least 4.5% that are rated 'buy' by most analysts

By Philip van Doorn

These companies are also expected to raise their payouts by as much as 15% through 2025.

During a period of high interest rates, it might be more difficult to impress investors with dividend stocks. But the stocks can have an important advantage over the long term. The dividend payouts can increase over the years, helping to push share prices higher over time.

When considering stocks for dividend income, yield shouldn't be the only thing you consider. If a stock's price has tumbled because investors are worried about the company's business prospects, the dividend yield might be very high. A double-digit yield might mean investors expect to see a cut to the dividend soon.

There are many ways to look at companies' expected ability to maintain or raise their dividend payouts. But one can also take a simple approach to begin researching stock choices.

At the moment, you can get a bank CD with a yield of close to 5% pretty easily. Here's a look at current yields for CDs and U.S. Treasury securities and an approach for laddering them not only to protect your cash but to hedge against interest-rate risk.

For investors who would rather aim for long-term growth to go along with dividend income, or take a relatively conservative approach to growth while reinvesting dividends, a screen of stocks in the S&P 500 produces only 10 stocks with dividend yields of 4.5% or higher with majority "buy" or equivalent ratings among analysts polled by FactSet. Here they are, sorted by dividend yield:

Company                           Ticker  Dividend Yield  Expected payout increase through 2025  Share "buy" ratings  April 16 price  Consensus price target  implied 12-month upside potential 
Comerica Inc.                      CMA             6.56%                                    10%                  58%          $43.30                  $60.53                                40% 
Citizens Financial Group Inc.      CFG             5.77%                                    12%                  74%          $29.10                  $39.29                                35% 
Healthpeak Properties Inc.         PEAK            5.71%                                     9%                  60%          $21.01                  $27.69                                32% 
Hasbro Inc.                        HAS             5.34%                                     8%                  69%          $52.40                  $69.27                                32% 
Philip Morris International Inc.    PM             5.11%                                    11%                  67%          $99.48                 $113.56                                14% 
Realty Income Corp.                 O              5.04%                                     7%                  56%          $60.77                  $70.00                                15% 
Fifth Third Bancorp                FITB            4.99%                                     3%                  72%          $26.44                  $34.55                                31% 
VICI Properties Inc.               VICI            4.82%                                    12%                  95%          $32.35                  $37.73                                17% 
Organon & Co.                      OGN             4.71%                                     5%                  55%          $23.80                  $31.89                                34% 
Iron Mountain Inc.                 IRM             4.69%                                    15%                  78%          $52.76                  $56.00                                 6% 
                                                                                                                                                                                Source: FactSet 

Click on the ticker for more about each company.

Click here for Tomi Kilgore's detailed guide to the wealth of information available for free on the MarketWatch quote page.

The dividend yields for this group of 10 companies are based on current annual regular payout rates, with all paying quarterly except for Realty Income Corp. (O), which pays monthly.

These two oil and natural gas producers would have passed the above screen based on their most recent dividend payments and analysts' sentiment, however, they pay a combined fixed-plus-variable dividend every quarter, with the fixed portion relatively low:

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-Philip van Doorn

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04-17-23 0944ET

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