Top Dividend Stocks
through September 30, 2022

Here are dividend paying US-listed stocks that meet or exceed our stringent criteria.

By Jeffrey Cohen, Investment Advisor Representative

​

Some stocks pay a consistent dividend that is a sustainable percentage of income and free cash flow (say 25% to 50%).  As the company's earnings power grows, so does the dividend. However, as the company's earnings power shrinks, so will the dividend. In fact, very few money losing companies pay a 5% or higher dividend, and the number keeps shrinking (8 out of 430, or 1.8%). This is compared to 105 companies out of 1,272, or 8.3%). All of those companies paying 5% or more are listed below.

Other companies pay dividends on a one-time basis.  They either generate excess operating income or perform a restructuring and wish to return capital to shareholders directly.  An example is Macquarie Infrastructure Holdings LLC. They sold off a business and returned the money to shareholders (which is then taxed as income).  The company did not wish to buy back stock or invest in growth opportunities.

Some investors prefer stocks that pay dividends despite the double taxation and the drain on company assets. The double taxation is because the company pays taxes on income, pays out a share of after-tax earnings to shareholders, and the shareholders then pay income tax (at a higher rate than capital gains) on the dividends. 

As an example of double taxation from dividends, a dollar earned by a company yields $0.70 after corporate taxes.  They pay the $0.70 to shareholders who then pay Federal and State taxes of 40% on that income, yielding a final amount of $0.42 (out of the original dollar), or a tax of 58%. 

Avoiding double taxation:
Case 1: investing those earnings in growth (e.g., Amazon's strategy) so no tax would be paid and the company should grow future earnings.  In that case,  no tax is paid currently.

Case 2: the company earns the income, pays corporate taxes of $0.30, and uses the $0.70 (after taxes) to buy back shares of stock or pay back debt. The investor in theory could defer their share of the taxes indefinitely by not selling their shares, or sells them after a year and pays lower capital gains taxes as low as 15%.  In this case, the tax paid in the current year is $0.30 or if the stocks were sold after a year, the current tax is $0.405.

This is a list of listed US common stocks based on their payout / average share price over the past year.  This is actual, historical dividend yield for an owner of the stock every day for the past year.  This is not a forward-looking dividend yield.

Our list of dividend paying stocks which have risk-return profiles better than the S&P 500 is limited.  Do your due diligence, learn their stories, and decide where you will invest. 
​

Our list of high quality, dividend paying stocks have 5 attributes:
​1.  US-listed stocks
2.  Traded every day, passed data validation
3.  Profitable, net income > 0
4.  Efficiency (risk vs. return) > S&P 500 Index ETF
5.  Dividends paid > S&P 500 Index ETF

Item four is based on our Chicago Quantum Net Score for each individual stock.  This is a proprietary algorithm that compares the relative level of reward for risk.

​Positive Net Income

​​Dividend amounts were paid last year vs. average of the stock price (an effective historical dividend yield)

• None found

These are the top dividend paying stocks over the past year for companies. The figure is the actual dividends or distributions paid over the past 253 trading days (1 year) divided by the actual, average share price during that same period. It is an actual payment amount.

​For example, a value of 1.10 means the company paid 10% of their average closing price in dividends last year.
​

Positive Net Income (that yielded 10% or more last year):

VMW     Vmware Inc.                                             1.23
CVI     CVR Energy Inc                                          1.22
TWO     Two Harbors Investment Corp                             1.17
CHRD    Chord Energy Corp                                       1.17
IEP     Icahn Enterprises L P                                   1.16
RC      Ready Capital Corp                                      1.16
ARI     Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Inc               1.15
CIM     Chimera Investment Corp                                 1.14
AFG     American Financial Group Inc                            1.14
KRP     Kimbell Royalty Partners LP                             1.12
PCH     PotlatchDeltic Corp                                     1.11
GNL     Global Net Lease Inc                                    1.11
BSM     Black Stone Minerals L.P.                               1.10
RITM    Rithm Capital Corporation                               1.10
SLG     SL Green Realty Corp.                                   1.10
LADR    Ladder Capital Corp                                     1.10
CEQP    Crestwood Equity Partners LP                            1.09
GFF     Griffon Corp.                                           1.09
OHI     Omega Healthcare Investors  Inc.                        1.09
MPLX    MPLX LP                                                 1.09
BGS     B&G Foods  Inc                                          1.09
LUMN    Lumen Technologies Inc                                  1.09
AM      Antero Midstream Corp                                   1.09
RKT     Rocket Companies Inc                                    1.09
SFL     SFL Corporation Ltd                                     1.09
SHLX    Shell Midstream Partners L.P.                           1.09
APAM    Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc                   1.09
UWMC    UWM Holdings Corporation                                1.09
VNOM    Viper Energy Partners LP                                1.09
MMP     Magellan Midstream Partners L.P.                        1.09
T       AT&T  Inc.                                              1.09
RRR     Red Rock Resorts Inc                                    1.09
AB      AllianceBernstein Holding Lp                            1.09
EOG     EOG Resources  Inc.                                     1.09
SUN     Sunoco LP                                               1.08
CADE    Cadence Bank                                            1.08
OMF     OneMain Holdings Inc                                    1.08
NHI     National Health Investors  Inc.                         1.08
MO      Altria Group Inc.                                       1.08
PXD     Pioneer Natural Resources Co.                           1.08
CWH     Camping World Holdings Inc                              1.08
VGR     Vector Group Ltd                                        1.08
EPD     Enterprise Products Partners L P                        1.08
PAA     Plains All American Pipeline LP                         1.08
ET      Energy Transfer LP                                      1.08
SRC     Spirit Realty Capital Inc                               1.08
CFFN    Capitol Federal Financial                               1.07
ARLP    Alliance Resource Partners  LP                          1.07
ORI     Old Republic International Corp.                        1.07
WY      Weyerhaeuser Co.                                        1.07
EPR     EPR Properties                                          1.07
TFSL    TFS Financial Corporation                               1.07
ETRN    Equitrans Midstream Corporation                         1.07
DVN     Devon Energy Corp.                                      1.07
SCCO    Southern Copper Corporation                             1.07
WES     Western Midstream Partners LP                           1.07
XRX     Xerox Holdings Corp                                     1.07
RILY    B. Riley Financial Inc                                  1.07
WPC     W. P. Carey Inc                                         1.07
NLY     Annaly Capital Management Inc                           1.07
STOR    Store Capital Corp                                      1.07
GLPI    Gaming and Leisure Properties Inc                       1.07
PSA     Public Storage                                          1.06
NYCB    New York Community Bancorp Inc.                         1.06
LTC     LTC Properties  Inc.                                    1.06
KMI     Kinder Morgan Inc                                       1.06
JXN     Jackson Financial Inc                                   1.06
FIZZ    National Beverage Corp.                                 1.06
BNL     Broadstone Net Lease Inc                                1.06
OKE     Oneok Inc.                                              1.06
DDS     Dillard`s Inc.                                          1.06
NWBI    Northwest Bancshares Inc                                1.06
UVV     Universal Corp.                                         1.06
GTY     Getty Realty Corp.                                      1.06
CTRA    Coterra Energy Inc                                      1.06
CIVI    Civitas Resources Inc                                   1.06
KW      Kennedy-Wilson Holdings Inc                             1.06
WU      Western Union Company                                   1.06
WMB     Williams Cos Inc                                        1.06
CCOI    Cogent Communications Holdings Inc                      1.06
ARCH    Arch Resources Inc                                      1.06
SPG     Simon Property Group  Inc.                              1.05
DEA     Easterly Government Properties Inc                      1.05
FIBK    First Interstate BancSystem Inc.                        1.05
PJT     PJT Partners Inc                                        1.05
UNIT    Uniti Group Inc                                         1.05
PM      Philip Morris International Inc                         1.05
HCC     Warrior Met Coal Inc                                    1.05
VZ      Verizon Communications Inc                              1.05
BEN     Franklin Resources  Inc.                                1.05
LYB     LyondellBasell Industries NV                            1.05
IBM     International Business Machines Corp.                   1.05
STR     Sitio Royalties Corporation                             1.05
IRM     Iron Mountain Inc.                                      1.05
HIW     Highwoods Properties  Inc.                              1.05
DCP     DCP Midstream LP                                        1.05
VICI    VICI Properties Inc                                     1.05
FULT    Fulton Financial Corp.                                  1.05
DEI     Douglas Emmett Inc                                      1.05
COP     Conoco Phillips                                         1.05
ENLC    Enlink Midstream LLC                                    1.05
IIPR    Innovative Industrial Properties Inc                    1.05
DTM     DT Midstream Inc                                        1.05
MDC     M.D.C. Holdings  Inc.                                   1.05
DOW     Dow Inc                                                 1.05
​

Negative net income (that yielded 5% or more last year):
AGNC AGNC Investment Corp 1.12
NS Nustar Energy L P 1.11
SBRA Sabra Healthcare REIT Inc 1.09
PBA Pembina Pipeline Corporation 1.07
FTAI Fortress Transportation and Infrastructure Investors LLC 1.07
ORC Orchid Island Capital Inc 1.06
TU Telus Corp. 1.06
GEL Genesis Energy L.P. 1.06
​

Past dividends is not a guarantee of future dividends

You should not assume that a company will continue to pay dividends, nor pay them at the same rate.  The decision to pay a dividend, and the amount paid, is based on earnings and availability of suitable investments available to the company.  Companies change their dividend policies & dividend amounts frequently. 

​First, here are two examples. 
$MIC is winding down their primary operations and distributed that value to shareholders.  There is no future dividend or payout on that business, it was a one-time payment. 
​$MMAT (previously AeroCentury ACY) paid a one-time dividend to legacy shareholders as they emerged from bankruptcy.

Let’s look at three recent examples of companies that have stopped paying dividends.

1. Boeing (BA) stopped paying dividends after COVID 19 and the 787 MAX crises to conserve cash while they wait for their commercial aircraft division to recover.
2. The GEO Companies (GEO) stopped paying dividends once President Biden was elected as he mandated the Federal Government Department of Justice to stop using private prisons.  The company planned for a business downturn and conserved cash.
3. Macquarie Infrastructure Holdings LLC (MIC) sold a portion of its business, as did AeroCentury (ACY), and returned a portion of the cash received to shareholders in a one-time, taxable dividend.  They send money as opposed to buying back stock or investing in a new business.​
4. Qurate Retail Inc. (QRTEA) has fallen on hard times with a fire in a warehouse and declining business volume.
5. VMWare Inc. (VMW) was likely paid out due to M&A activity.​​

How we calculate dividends

This is a list of listed US common stocks based on their payout / average share price over the past year.  This is actual, historical dividend yield for an owner of the stock every day for the past year.  This is not a forward-looking dividend yield, which is what you typically see.  We like this calculation better and use it in our platform.

Top stocks based on dividend payout (1 + dividend %, so 1.15 = 15% payout).  
​
We calculate this by dividing the sum of dividends or distributions actually paid by the average closing price for the measurement period, plus 1.0.  A stock with no dividend (1.00).  As an example: stock ABC paid $1.20 last year, and had an average close price of $100.  This is a 1.2% dividend yield, and would have a listed value of 1.012.

We added data validation filters, such as capitalization floor (e.g., $100M equity value, stock trades every day, stock price floor (e.g., $0.50), maximum and minimum BETA ranges, and more.  

Do your due diligence, learn their stories, and decide where you will invest.  Each of these stocks has a story.
​

Learn more about our Chicago Quantum Net Score services?