Looking to boost your passive income with high-yield investments?
Dividend-paying stocks reward shareholders with periodic payments of their profits, in the form of cash or additional shares. Dividends can potentially provide a steady stream of income and contribute to investors' total return. An added bonus: Dividend-paying stocks have historically often experienced less volatility than other stocks, and may be issued by more stable, mature companies.
Sound promising? Read on for stocks that have recently paid among the highest dividend yields, plus more ways to invest in high-dividend stocks.
Which stocks have paid the highest dividends in 2025?
Below are the top 10 results of a screen using the Fidelity stock screener that sorts stocks by dividend yield as of September 5, 2025.
In addition to sorting by highest dividend yield, the screen selects for companies that have an ex-dividend date upcoming in the next 180 days (which helps to remove companies that have paid only sporadic dividends), and that trade on the New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq, or American Stock Exchange. These are not recommendations of Fidelity:
| Ticker | Company name | Dividend yield as of September 5, 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Oxford Square Capital Corp. | 19.09% | |
| Horizon Technology Finance Corp. | 18.97% | |
| Prospect Capital Corp. | 18.75% | |
| Armour Residential REIT Inc. | 18.43% | |
| Whitehorse Finance Inc. | 17.72% | |
| Investcorp Credit Management BDC Inc. | 16.44% | |
| B&G Foods Inc. | 16.34% | |
| OFS Capital Corp. | 15.70% | |
| FS KKR Capital Corp. | 15.53% | |
| BlackRock TCP Capital Corp. | 13.93% |
The stocks mentioned are not necessarily holdings invested in by Fidelity. References to specific company stocks should not be construed as recommendations or investment advice.
Dividend yield is the annual dividend divided by the stock price. For example, a stock with a share price of $100, paying a quarterly dividend of $1, would have a dividend yield of:
($1 x 4) / $100 = 4%
It's a measure investors can use to compare dividend payouts across companies. Another company might pay a higher dividend in dollar terms, but could have a lower dividend yield.
However, simply looking at a stock’s reported dividend yield doesn’t on its own tell you if the stock is a strong investment or if it fits your needs. In fact, as the next section explains, it doesn’t even tell you if that stock will actually pay the highest dividend yield.
Risks of chasing the highest dividend yields
A company is free to start, stop, cut, or increase its dividend payments anytime, as it sees fit. And its stock price can change any day the market is open. This means that dividend yields are not as reliable as, say, the interest you might earn on an FDIC-insured CD.
Moreover, stocks with very high dividend yields can come with particularly high risks, including:
Falling stock price
There are typically 2 ways a stock gets a high dividend yield: The company raises its dividend at an accelerated pace, or the dividend remains flat while the stock price declines. Often, it's the latter. As the stock falls in price, the denominator in the dividend-yield equation shrinks. This has the effect of pumping up the stated yield. Even if the company is able to make further dividend payments, the decline in share price can be a troubling sign of weak fundamentals, which the market may be worried about.
Dividend cuts
If a stock has a very high dividend yield, it’s typically a signal that investors don’t believe the company will be able to sustain its dividend—i.e., that the dividend will be cut or stopped. Remember that dividend-paying companies are under no obligation to continue to pay a certain level of dividend, or even to keep paying a dividend at all. Historically, companies that cut their dividends have tended to underperform the market both before and immediately after the announcement of a dividend cut.
Troubled companies
As the previous 2 points suggest, very high dividend payers tend to be companies in distress, raising the risk of further deterioration or even bankruptcy.
Misleading yields
Simply running a screen for high-dividend yields can turn up stocks that have paid a one-off high dividend, but that don’t have any intention of large ongoing dividend payments. That’s why further research is always essential.
High-dividend stocks with more sustainable yields
Dividend investing can still have a role in a portfolio, particularly for investors looking to generate income.
Instead of focusing on the highest dividend yields, experienced dividend investors often focus on sustainable dividends—meaning, companies that are financially healthy and therefore more likely to keep paying their dividends. Some considerations investors may focus on include:
- Dividend coverage ratio. Dividend payments come out of a company’s profits. The coverage ratio compares the size of profits to the size of dividends. All else equal, the higher the ratio of profits to dividends, the more sustainable the dividend may be.
- Dividends to free cash flow. Companies need cash on hand to pay a cash dividend. For example, if dividend payments have been outpacing free cash flow, they may be unsustainable.
- Dividend history. A company with a long history of consistent dividend payments may feel a commitment to continue paying its dividend. It may also have relatively predictable finances, helping reduce near- or medium-term risk to its dividend. These are often mature, relatively stable companies.
Below are the top 10 results of a screen, using the Fidelity stock screener, that selects for the highest-dividend-paying stocks of companies with strong dividend coverage ratios, positive expected profit growth, and a few other metrics to filter out financially stressed companies.1 These results are as of September 5, 2025, and are not recommendations of Fidelity:
| Ticker | Company name | Dividend yield as of September 5, 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Lincoln National Corp. | 4.16% | |
| The Toronto-Dominion Bank | 4.07% | |
| Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce | 3.55% | |
| Travel Plus Leisure Co. | 3.53% | |
| Huntington Bancshares Inc. | 3.47% | |
| Fidelity National Finance Inc. | 3.31% | |
| Royal Bank of Canada | 3.06% | |
| State Street Corp. | 2.95% | |
| Old Republic International Corp. | 2.82% | |
| Ovintiv Inc. | 2.82% |
The stocks mentioned are not necessarily holdings invested in by Fidelity. References to specific company stocks should not be construed as recommendations or investment advice.
High-dividend ETFs
ETFs can be another way to invest in dividend stocks. ETFs are baskets of investments that trade on an exchange like stock. The potential benefits of ETFs can include competitive costs, ease of trading, and more, which helps to explain why they've been rising in popularity with investors.
Below are the top 5 results of a screen using the Fidelity ETF/ETP screener that selects for the highest-yielding ETFs among stock ETFs that are relatively large in size, have a strong analyst rating, and meet a few other requirements.2 These screen results are as of September 5, 2025 and are not recommendations of Fidelity:
| Ticker | ETF name | 30-day SEC yield as of September 5, 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| First Trust Morningstar Dividend Leaders Index Fund | 4.44% | |
| Fidelity High Dividend ETF | 2.80% | |
| Vanguard High Dividend Yield Index Fund ETF Shares | 2.57% | |
| SPDR® S&P Dividend ETF | 2.51% | |
| iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF | 2.24% |
Learn more about how to research and choose ETFs.
3 more ways to invest in dividend stocks
Investing in dividend-paying companies can be rewarding, but it typically takes more than just searching for the stocks with the highest yields. In addition to searching for dividend-focused investments with the Fidelity stock screener and the Fidelity ETF/ETP screener, here are 3 more ways of finding dividend investing ideas:
1. Dividend-focused mutual funds
Investing with a mutual fund means you can leave the research on individual stocks to a professional manager. You can search for dividend-focused mutual funds with Fidelity’s mutual fund screener. Fidelity offers a number of mutual funds that invest in dividend-paying stocks, including:
- Fidelity® Equity Dividend Income Fund (
) - Fidelity® Equity-Income Fund (
) - Fidelity® Growth & Income Portfolio (
) - Fidelity® Strategic Dividend & Income® Fund (
)
2. Separately managed accounts (SMAs)
As with a mutual fund, in an SMA you outsource individual stock research and selection to a dedicated professional manager. However, due to the unique features of SMAs, they can offer greater control and transparency than mutual funds. In Fidelity’s dividend-focused SMAs, managers may also use tax-smart investing strategies3—a potentially important tool, given that dividends received in a brokerage account are generally taxable. Fidelity’s dividend-focused SMAs include:
- Fidelity Managed FidFolios® Dividend Income Strategy
- Fidelity® Dividend Income Strategy
3. Curated screens
Given the challenges already mentioned with screening for high-dividend investments, it can be helpful to use a screen that incorporates an element of human research and judgment. Fidelity offers screens developed by third-party research firms and that incorporate analyst recommendations for high-dividend-yielding unit trusts and for real estate investment trusts (REITs).