7 Best Dividend Stocks to Buy Now

The 7 best dividend stocks to buy now have a history of long-term rising payouts and superior total returns for extended periods compared to their non-dividend-paying peers.

Investors seeking a steady income for their portfolios should consider equities with a history of reliable returns — namely, those offering both strong dividend income and potential asset appreciation. Income investors may be tempted to fill their portfolios with only high-yield dividend stocks in an effort to maximize their returns but doing so subjects them to a disproportionate amount of risk.

Income investors often fail to look past the main performance metrics — namely dividend yield — in which a seemingly high payout rate may be due to a sudden drop in share price and be indicative of deeper financial problems.

Rather than subject themselves to this risk, savvy investors can stabilize their portfolios by taking positions in dividend stocks focused on both growth and regular dividend distributions. These companies offer consistent dividend payments but also maintain growing share prices, allowing investors to collect returns from receiving both dividend payments and value appreciation.

The seven best dividend stocks to buy now were chosen individually and selected from seven different sources. Each of the first five is either a current or recent recommendation from one of the investment experts at Eagle Financial Publications, which offers subscription newsletters and exclusive trading services.

The final two recommendations were selected by using two different screening tools. The first is the dividend screener on DividendInvestor.com, where I found 47 five-star dividend all-stars that met a rigorous process to identify those ranked the highest by a proprietary rating system.

The final dividend stock to buy now was found through our affiliate partner, StockRover.com. Using its screening tool, we isolated the stocks ranked in the 99th percentile for all of valuation, efficiency and dividends. All of the charts and figures seen below were also generated using Stock Rover. You can start a free trial of the Stock Rover research tools by clicking here.

Here are the 7 best dividend stocks to buy now.

7 Best Dividend Stocks to Buy Now #1

General Mills (NYSE:GIS)

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) is one of the world’s largest food companies, producing everything from snacks and cereal to pet food and premium ice cream. Although the company operates worldwide, roughly three quarters of its annual revenue is generated in the United States.

The company’s returns have been remarkably stable in the trailing 12-month period, having grown a healthy 31.7% since March 2022. General Mills significantly outperformed its competitors in the consumer defensive industry. Although it undershot the S&P 500, GIS’s returns were considerably more level throughout the year than the index. The company weathered economic challenges deftly throughout the last 3 years — General Mills was quick to recover from brief market recessions. The company’s dividend-adjusted returns for the past year are plotted below:

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The regular and sizable dividend payments that make General Mills a safe buy have been uninterrupted for over 120 years. The company paid out its first dividend in 1898 and has continued to do so since then, with a powerful upward trend and very few decreases in the dividend distribution along the way. Currently, the company pays a quarterly dividend of $0.54 per share, yielding 2.7%.

7 Best Dividend Stocks to Buy Now #2

Compass Diversified Holdings (NYSE:CODI)

Compass Diversified Holdings (NYSE:CODI) was a previous — albeit recent — recommendation by Mark Skousen, Ph.D. Mark Skousen is a Presidential Fellow in economics at Chapman University, as well as a former professor of economics at Columbia University. He also has been identified as one of the 20 most influential economists alive today. While his  income investment recommendations usually are reserved for subscribers to Forecasts & Strategies investment newsletter, the following dividend-paying position in his Home Run Trader premium service closed out a 24.57% profit from the share price alone.

The diversified company specializes in branded consumer businesses, as well as niche industrial businesses. Some of its companies include Ergobaby, Velocity Outdoor, Foam Fabricators, Sterno and several more.

Compass Diversified Holdings is a strong investment largely for its momentum patterns. The company is in the 49th percentile overall when compared to other stocks based on momentum, but CODI excels when we note the strong industry momentum and 5-year analysis of its simple moving average. The performance of the company versus the industry and the S&P500 are shown below.

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The company pays a flat quarterly dividend of $0.25 per share every quarter since 2011, making its annual dividend distribution $1.00 and its dividend yield 5.4%. While it lacks dividend growth, CODI is demonstrating financial stability to continue a high and level payout whilst investing in its own growth as a company.

7 Best Dividend Stocks to Buy Now #3

Arbor Realty Trust (NYSE:ABR)

Our third pick for the 7 best dividend stocks to buy now comes from Bryan Perry, a financial expert with more than 30 years of experience on Wall Street. Perry has worked at Bear Stearns, Paine Webber and Lehman Brothers as well as hosted weekly financial news shows on the Bloomberg radio network. You can learn more about his flagship, high-yield investment newsletter, Cash Machine, by clicking here.

Arbor Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ABR) is a nationwide real estate investment trust that originates and services loans for multifamily, seniors housing, health care and other diverse commercial real estate assets.

Perry forecasts the rotation of capital into value sectors will dominate the investing landscape. In fact, there is evidence this shift began to occur as early as 2021 — but may still be early in the cycle. Real estate is on the receiving end of this sector rotation out of stay-at-home, work-from-anywhere stocks, including big-cap tech growth, and into value assets, he added.

Arbor manages a multibillion-dollar servicing portfolio, specializing in government-sponsored enterprise products. The company is a Fannie Mae DUS(R) lender and Freddie Mac Optigo Seller/Servicer. Arbor’s product platform also includes CMBS, bridge, mezzanine and preferred equity lending.

In 2023, ABR ranks in the top 27 percent for expected earnings per share (EPS) growth and the top 14 percent for its intangible assets and equity growth. Its operating income surpasses that of 81 percent of its competitors, and the company has show steady revenue growth throughout the last 10 years.

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Arbor pays an annual dividend of $1.60 per share, translating to an impressive 13.2% current yield. Perry projected the stock has a “very good chance” to deliver a 20%-plus total return in the next 12 months. 

7 Best Dividend Stocks to Buy Now #4

iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (NYSEARCA:IEMG)

The fourth pick on our list is courtesy of Jim Woods, a Wall Street veteran with more than 20 years of experience in positions ranging from hedge fund trader to financial writer and author. He is the author of Billion Dollar Green: Profit from the Eco Revolution and The Wealth Shield: How to Invest and Protect Your Money from Another Stock Market Crash, Financial Crisis or Global Economic Collapse. More information about his top strategies and stock picks can be found at: Successful Investing, Intelligence Report and BullsEye Stock Trader.

The iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (NYSEARCA:IEMG) is not a stock, but it is a fast-growing equity with regular dividend payments poised for success in the near future. The ETF tracks the MSCI Emerging Markets Investable Market Index and will invest at least 90% of its assets in the underlying equities. The index tied to IEMG measures small-, mid- and large-cap equities in emerging markets around the world, with only 30% of the fund’s assets invested in developed nations.

The ETF’s returns have been continuously trending upward for the last several periods, with its gains in the trailing 36 months totaling 17.7%.

Although price has fluctuated in a potentially unflattering way over the course of the last 10 years, this paints an unfair picture of IEMG by failing to account for its excellent dividend returns. Plotted below is the total annual return of the equity overlaid with its price change.

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The fund supplements its capital appreciation with consistent semiannual dividend payments. IEMG currently pays a dividend of $066 per share and paid a total annual dividend of $1.26 for the year 2022 — giving it a trailing dividend yield of 2.7% with a forward yield to match.

7 Best Dividend Stocks to Buy Now #5

Schnitzer Steel Industries (NASDAQ:SCHN)

The fifth equity in our list of the 7 best dividend stocks to buy now is recommended by Jon Johnson, editor of Investment House Daily, Technical Traders Alert and Success Trading Group. Johnson has been featured in the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Money Magazine and several other notable publications. More of his expert recommendations can be found by clicking here. 

Schnitzer Steel Industries (NASDAQ:SCHN) is a massive scrap metal recycling company that deals in everything from auto bodies to construction demolition and simple appliances. The company also profits off its auto-parts business, where it harvests useful parts from obsolete vehicles and sells them to retail customers. In addition to recycling, the company operates a large steelmaking business working primarily with customers on the West Coast.

The company’s upward trend in capital gains has been astronomical, growing an impressive 142.4% in value in the past 3 years, more than doubling the value of shareholders’ investments. This uptick is not an isolated incident either, as the company has maintained stronger returns still in the long-term.

Rather than occurring in a single spike, the growth of SCHN stock has been gradual and consistent in the last 3 years. This followed a downturn in the 2 years before and precedes a current dip in share price. Plotted below is both a comparison of its fluctuation with the S&P 500 as well as its regular trading volume.

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During its ride through 2020 all the way through 2023 to date, the company kept its dividend payment at $0.19 per quarter, corresponding to an annual dividend distribution of $0.75 and a forward yield of 2.4%. The dividend has remained unbroken and unchanged since 2013 after the company increased its payout by 637.5%, and then again by another 28.8% to the current $0.19 distribution it remains at today.

7 Best Dividend Stocks to Buy Now #6

Emerson Electric (NYSE:EMR)

Sourced from our very own Dividend Screener on DividendInvestor.com, St. Louis-based Emerson Electric (NYSE:EMR) is a Dividend Allstar — a prestigious rank given to the equities we deem the most worthwhile investments based on consecutive dividend increases, dividend yield and several additional metrics.

With 66 years of consecutive dividend increases, Emerson Electric is a Dividend Aristocrat, meaning it is one of the select S&P 500 companies with more than 25 years of consecutive dividend increases. The company also sits among the Dividend Kings, an even more exclusive group of equities that have maintained at least 50 consecutive years of dividend hikes. Alongside Emerson Electric, there are only 28 additional Dividend Kings.

Currently, Emerson Electric pays a quarterly dividend of $0.52. This payout presently corresponds to an annual distribution of $2.06 and a yield of 2.5%

The chart below overlays the company’s dividend payments for the last 15 years with its change in stock price, showing the consistent increase in dividend payout despite fluctuations in the share price’s performance.

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The company’s share price, as well, has performed exceptionally well in the trailed 3 years. EMR grew 77.8% over the course of the last 36 months.

7 Best Dividend Stocks to Buy Now #7

DHT Holdings (NYSE:DHT)

DHT Holdings (NYSE:DHT) was isolated through use of our affiliate partner, Stock Rover. We used the platform’s rating and valuation system to identify stocks scoring in the 99th percentile for overall quality, valuation, efficiency and dividends. More detailed screens still can be built on Stock Rover. If interested in doing so, sign up for a free trial here. 

DHT Holdings is a crude oil tanker company operating on an international scale with its primary business split between Norway, Singapore, Oslo and Monaco. The company generates revenue off a fleet of carriers ranging in size from 200,000 to 320,000 deadweight tons.

The company exceeds expectations in its dividend payment couples with its astronomical growth. DHT pays a regular dividend of $0.38, annualizing to $1.52. That yields an impressive 13.3% on a stock with a steadily growing price.

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The stock has also shown massive equity growth, returning 126.7% in the trailing 12 months and 345.4% in the last 5 years.

Related Articles:

3 Best Dividend Stocks to Buy Now

3 Dividend Growth Stocks to Buy Now

10 High Dividend Stocks Under $20

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