Highest-Yielding Dividend Stocks in the S&P 500

Dividend investors should know that blindly buying the highest-yielding dividend stocks can be a dangerous game.

An unusually high dividend yield is often a warning sign, because stock prices and dividend yields move in opposite directions. It's possible that a too-good-to-be-true dividend yield is simply an effect of a stock having lost a lot of value.

Anytime a company's stock is slumping badly, it's worth wondering if its dividend is sustainable at current levels.

Case in point: Look at what happened with LyondellBasell (LYB) recently. A prolonged cyclical downturn in the chemicals industry caused shares in the materials stock to fall more than 40% in 2025. The falling share price caused LYB's dividend yield to peak at nearly 11%.

Analysts at Goldman Sachs reiterated their Sell rating on LYB in early February 2026, citing "investor uncertainty surrounding the company's dividend policy."

Goldman was right to be concerned. Weeks later, LYB slashed its dividend by 50%.

Highest-yielding dividend stocks

Sometimes the highest-yielding dividend stocks can be fool's gold, a reality that applies even to certain high-yield names within the S&P 500.

Be forewarned: In some cases, the companies below have entered elite-yield territory only because their share prices have come under significant stress. In turn, some analysts are now concerned about the long-term sustainability of these payouts.

Happily for dividend investors, a number of Buy-rated blue chip stocks anchor the list.

Amcor (AMCR), one of the best dividend stocks for dependable dividend growth, gets a high-conviction Buy rating from industry analysts. Wall Street is also bullish on Altria Group (MO), which has hiked its payout annually for decades. Meanwhile, Pfizer (PFE) has a 16-year track record of consecutive increases, and telecom giant Verizon Communications (VZ) has increased its annual dividend for 20 consecutive years.

With those explanations and caveats out of the way, below find the 15 highest-yielding dividend stocks in the S&P 500.

Market data, analysts' estimates and analysts' recommendations are as of April 13, 2026, courtesy of YCharts and S&P Global Market Intelligence.