Pretty much any time is a great time for income investors to buy dividend stocks. The sooner you invest, the sooner the dividends start flowing into your account.
However, certain times are better to buy specific dividend stocks than others. Here are three top dividend stocks to buy in November.
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1. Ares Capital
If you're looking for an exceptionally juicy dividend, you'll definitely want to check out Ares Capital (ARCC 0.27%). This business development company (BDC) pays a forward dividend yield of 9.4%. And the dividend is one you can count on.
Ares Capital has maintained or increased its dividend for 65 consecutive quarters. That's more than 16 solid years of dividend stability. It's one of only a few BDCs that have consistently grown its dividend and cumulative net asset value (NAV) over the last 10 years.
NASDAQ: ARCC
Key Data Points
Why buy Ares Capital stock in November? Its business is picking up. CEO Kort Schnabel stated in the company's third-quarter earnings call that his team is witnessing "a noticeable acceleration in the volume of transactions under review, both sequentially and compared to the prior year." He noted that Ares Capital reviewed more potential deals in September than in any previous month in 2025. Schnabel also mentioned that the mergers and acquisitions market is booming.
While this increased business is a great reason to invest in Ares Capital over the near term, the BDC's long-term prospects remain attractive as well. Borrowers continue to shift to private lenders because of the higher certainty that capital will be available regardless of the prevailing market dynamics. As the largest publicly traded BDC and the one with the highest credit rating among the three major rating agencies, Ares Capital is well-positioned to benefit from this trend.
2. Energy Transfer
Energy Transfer (ET 0.68%) is another stock with a distribution that income investors should love. The midstream master limited partnership (MLP) offers a forward distribution yield of 7.9%. Its management expects to grow the distribution by 3% to 5% annually, with a recent distribution increase in that range.
I think Energy Transfer's distribution is reliable. The MLP continues to generate ample distributable cash flow to cover its distribution payouts. Its adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) increased by a compound annual growth rate of 10% between 2020 and 2024. More growth should be on the way.
NYSE: ET
Key Data Points
The rising adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) is driving the construction of new data centers. These data centers require massive amounts of electricity. More power plants use natural gas than any other energy source. Energy Transfer's 105,000 miles of natural gas pipelines and its 236 billion cubic feet of natural gas storage won't be enough to keep up with the demand. As a result, the MLP has a substantial project backlog to ramp up its capacity.
There's also another reason to invest in Energy Transfer sooner rather than later: its valuation. The MLP's units trade at 9.7 times forward earnings. Energy Transfer's enterprise value-to-EBITDA ratio is only 7.9. That makes it one of the cheapest midstream energy stocks on the market.
3. United Parcel Service
United Parcel Service's (UPS +0.13%) forward dividend yield currently stands at 6.8%. The package delivery giant has increased its dividend for 16 consecutive years. Some might worry that this streak could soon screech to a halt, with the company paying out more in dividends than it's generating in free cash flow. However, there's more to the story.
There were some temporary issues in the second quarter of 2025 that caused UPS' free cash flow to drop significantly. But the company's free cash flow rebounded strongly in Q3. UPS CFO Brian Dykes said in the Q3 earnings call that those issues "have kind of worked themselves out, and we expect Q4 to look similar to Q3." He also hinted that another dividend hike could be on the way "in the very near future."
NYSE: UPS
Key Data Points
I expect UPS' free cash flow will continue to rise. The company's strategy of reducing lower-margin shipment volumes for Amazon (AMZN 0.57%) and reconfiguring its operations to align with this shift appears to be paying off. UPS' U.S. operating margins increased year over year in Q3. Both revenue and earnings were better than Wall Street expected, too.
CEO Carol Tomé said that some of the uncertainty related to the Trump administration's tariffs has also been resolved. This allows UPS to have a clearer picture of its near-term future. To be sure, the pain isn't over yet. Tomé noted that small- and medium-sized businesses will "feel the full brunt" of some of the tariffs in 2026. However, the U.S. Supreme Court will soon hear a case seeking to overturn many of the tariffs. A positive ruling from the high court could accelerate UPS' turnaround.
