3 Top-Rated Dividend Stocks to Buy

Dividend stocks can do wonders for the long-term performance of your portfolio. These companies pay a regular flow of their profits directly back to shareholders, meaning you receive some sort of return—even when share prices aren't cooperating.

But if you're seeking out the best dividend stocks to buy right now, I have a suggestion:

Don't just focus on yield.

A yield-first, quality-second mindset can work out, but it can also flame out spectacularly. That's because some high yields are built on shaky foundations, and when the pressure on profits becomes too great … look out below!

Today, I'm going to introduce you to three of the best dividend stocks to buy as viewed through the Wall Street research community's eyes.

Editor's Note: Tabular data presented in this article is up-to-date as of May 20, 2026.

Disclaimer: This article does not constitute individualized investment advice. Individual securities, funds, and/or other investments appear for your consideration and not as personalized investment recommendations. Act at your own discretion.

How I Chose the Best Dividend Stocks to Buy

Before I started this article, I was video calling a colleague and joked, in a pseudo-philosophical voice, "What is a good dividend stock, anyways?"

Related: 15 Dividend Kings for Royally Resilient Income

But I was only partly kidding. What's ideal to one investor might not fit the bill for another. Ultimately, though, I coalesced around safe dividends, with some capacity to grow, sporting above-average yields, paid by larger (and thus likelier to be more stable) companies. Specifically, they have to …

• Be in the S&P 500.
• Have a yield greater than 1.5%, to ensure they're better than the overall market. Most of the stocks on this list yield more than 2%, some north of 3%,and one yields more than 5%. (If that's too low a baseline yield for you, I suggest you instead read our list of high-yield dividend stocks, where 5%-plus yields are the norm.)
• Have an earnings payout ratio below 70%. This is a generally safe level where there's still at least some room for dividend growth, and the lower the payout ratio, typically the more growth potential there is. (Note: Free cash flow payout ratio is an even better metric, but screening data for this tends to be unreliable.)
• Have at least a consensus Buy rating according to analysts tracked by S&P Global Market Intelligence. S&P boils down consensus ratings down to a numerical system where anything less than 1.5 is a Strong Buy, 1.5 to 2.5 is a Buy, between 2.5 and 3.5 is a Hold, 3.5 to 4.5 is a Sell, and anything greater than 4.5 is a Strong Sell. In this case, I only included stocks with a 2.0 rating or less—so at least a pretty firm consensus Buy rating, if not an outright Strong Buy.

The equities here are listed in reverse order of their consensus analyst rating, starting with the worst-rated stock and ending with the best-rated stock.

The following are a handful of selections from our full list of the best dividend stocks to buy now.

BlackRock

• Sector: Financials
• Market cap: $162.0 billion
• Dividend yield: 2.2%
• Consensus analyst rating: 1.59 (Buy)

BlackRock (BLK) is one of the world's largest asset management firms, boasting more than $14 trillion in assets across its many lines of business. Individual investors know it well for both its BlackRock mutual funds and closed-end funds (CEFs), as well as its iShares exchange-traded funds (ETFs). But it also manages money for institutional clients, including pension plans, foundations, charities, and insurance companies, among others.

BlackRock has been in a broader consistent uptrend since the depths of the Great Recession, and that has come alongside similar progression in both the company's top and bottom lines. There have been a few hiccups along the way, of course, such as COVID and early 2026's market downturn—but analysts frequently call out these dips as reasons to buy BLK shares.

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In fact, it's difficult to find any Wall Street pros with something negative to say about BlackRock right now despite the fact that BLK remains in the red so far in 2026. Shares currently enjoy 14 Buy calls versus three Holds and no Sells.

"We believe that BLK remains well positioned to deliver above-peer organic growth given its unmatched product breadth and distribution footprint (helped by its iShares franchise)," say Keefe, Bruyette & Woods analysts Aidan Hall and Kyle Voigt, who recently reaffirmed their Outperform (equivalent of Buy) rating on BlackRock's stock. "Also, its scale and demonstrated ability to generate operating leverage bodes well for future earnings growth and operating leverage. The firm's increasing alternatives presence and growing technology revenue stream add further breadth to what is already a diverse product/solutions offering."

BlackRock has been a fount of dividend growth since the Great Recession, too. In the past decade alone, BLK has managed to average 10% annual dividend growth. Its most recent hike, announced in early February 2026, was a stout 10% bump to $5.73 per share. Still, a payout ratio just below 45% of 2026 profit estimates should keep investors plenty confident in the dividend's health and its ability to keep growing.

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Devon Energy

• Sector: Energy
• Market cap: $56.4 billion
• Dividend yield: 2.6%
• Consensus analyst rating: 1.48 (Strong Buy)

Energy businesses are typically referred to by their "stream." Upstream companies search for and extract oil, gas, and other raw energy resources; midstream companies transport, store, and sometimes process those resources; and downstream companies refine these resources into final products such as gasoline, diesel, and natural gas liquids (NGLs).

Devon Energy (DVN) is an upstream firm—an independent oil and natural gas exploration and production (E&P) firm that operates in some of America's most potent locations, including the Delaware Basin, Anadarko Basin and Eagle Ford.

DVN has also become much bigger thanks to the company's recent merger with Coterra Energy. Devon says that on a pro forma basis, the combined company's 2025 daily production was about 548,000 barrels of oil, 348,000 barrels of natural gas liquids, and about 4.3 billion cubic feet of natural gas.

Related: 8 Best High-Yield Dividend ETFs for Income-Hungry Investors

E&P companies are more beholden to commodity prices than the other "streams," so as oil and nat gas prices go, so go their shares. Their differences boil down to operational efficiency, and Devon Energy is among the best, according to Wall Street analysts, who as a group have 20 Buys on the stock against five Holds and no Sells.

"DVN has multiple catalysts for absolute and relative outperformance post-[Coterra] close, but attracting long-only capital requires clearer focus on durable core assets," say Jefferies analysts, who recently upgraded the stock to Buy from Hold. "Divesting non-core, particularly the Marcellus (likely commanding a premium to current valuation), could eliminate debt and boost returns."

Devon Energy celebrated the acquisition by announcing an $8 billion share buyback authorization and hiking its dividend by 33%, to 32¢ per share quarterly. That comes out to just 25% of this year's expected earnings—a conservative payout ratio that offers plenty of dividend stability and room for expansion.

Related: The 10 Best Dividend ETFs [Get Income + Diversify]

Citizens Financial Group

• Sector: Financials
• Market cap: $26.4 billion
• Dividend yield: 3.0%
• Consensus analyst rating: 1.44 (Strong Buy)

Citizens Financial Group (CFG) is the holding company behind Citizens Bank, a large regional bank with roughly 1,000 branches serving 14 East Coast and Midwest states as well as Washington, D.C. It provides a wide variety of consumer and commercial banking services, including deposits, mortgages, credit cards, business loans, wealth management, foreign exchange, corporate finance, and more.

One noteworthy area of growth for CFG is Citizens Private Bank, which offers personal banking, wealth management, and other services to people with at least $10 million in net worth and at least $5 million in liquid assets. Since launching near the end of 2023, Private Bank has accumulated $16.6 billion in deposits, $7.7 billion in loans, and $10.1 billion in client assets.

Related: The 10 Best Dividend Mutual Funds You Can Buy Now

"Positive policies around deregulation, looser capital requirements, and more stress test transparency stand to benefit CFG," says Argus's Heal, who rates Citizens’ shares at Buy. "Management has remained confident that Private Bank will deliver 20% to 25% return on equity for FY26. Additionally, the bank continues to show strong performance in the New York metro region."

"Among large regional banks, our bias is to own stocks with 1) above-average EPS growth, 2) above-average NII growth, and 3) improving loan/deposit growth dynamics—all of which CFG possesses today," add Keefe, Bruyette & Woods analysts, who rate the stock at Outperform. "We concede that CFG's valuation discount has all but been eliminated, but we remain constructive on the 400 [basis points] of 'high confidence ROTCE improvement' that is set to unfold over the next two years."

All told, CFG has a broad bull camp of 17 Buys versus one Hold and no Sells, putting it at the tippy top of the S&P 500's best dividend stocks right now.

Citizens Financial has paid a dividend every year since its initial public offering (IPO) in 2014. Its dividend-growth history is less consistent; nonetheless, the quarterly payout has improved by 360% since its initial 10¢ payout. Most recently, in October 2025, it announced a 9.5% improvement to the dividend, to 46¢ per share. It’s a very well-covered payout that represents about 35% of Citizens’ anticipated profits for 2026.

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