With Wall Street’s major market averages trading near all-time highs towards the end of the first half of 2024, investors who may be looking for safety and income may want to focus on dividend stocks.
While the universe of dividend-based companies is vast, Seeking Alpha constructed a top 10 performing dividend list for the investment community. The criteria that was used to construct the list were stocks that were inside the S&P 500 (SP500) and offered at least a 4% dividend yield or higher.
Top 10 S&P 500 Stocks with a 4% Dividend Yield
No. 10: AT&T (T) +8.9% YTD.
No. 9: T.Rowe Price Group (TROW) +9.2% YTD.
No. 8: Kinder Morgan (KMI) +11.4% YTD.
No. 7: Prudential Financial (PRU) +13.1% YTD.
No. 6: Altria Group (MO) +13.5% YTD.
No. 5: Oneok Inc (OKE) +13.9% YTD.
No. 4: Best Buy Co. (BBY) +16.1% YTD.
No. 3: Hasbro (HAS) +20.2% YTD.
No. 2: Williams Cos (WMB) +21.1% YTD.
No. 1: Diamondback Energy (FANG) +25.4% YTD.
Dividend Yields: T 6.12%, TROW 4.20%, KMI 5.85%, PRU 4.44%, MO 8.81%, OKE 4.98%, BBY 4.14%, HAS 4.61%, WMB 4.52%, and FANG 4.46%.
Additionally, for investors looking for a more diversified approach to dividend investing, here are the six largest dividend-focused exchange traded funds on the market along with how each fund has performed in 2024.
- Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF (VIG) +8.5% YTD.
- Vanguard High Dividend Yield Index ETF (VYM) +6.5% YTD.
- Schwab US Dividend Equity ETF (NYSEARCA:SCHD) +2.6% YTD.
- iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF (NYSEARCA:DGRO) +7.5% YTD.
- SPDR S&P Dividend ETF (NYSEARCA:SDY) +2.7% YTD.
- iShares Select Dividend ETF (NASDAQ:DVY) +2.9% YTD.