You don't have to look very hard to find dividend stocks, particularly among established, stable companies. In fact, Charles Schwab estimates that 80% of the companies represented in the S&P 500 are considered dividend stocks.
I love dividend stocks because they pay you to hold them. The best dividend stocks provide a consistent return that returns money to investors on a quarterly -- or, even better, a monthly -- basis, which you can use for regular expenses. And if you're not close to retirement, you can use dividend stocks to make your portfolio grow even faster.
Let's look at the S&P 500, in particular. Had you invested $10,000 a decade ago into an index fund, such as the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF, you would have $33,620 to show for your investment. That's not bad. But if you reinvested the dividends that the exchange-traded fund (ETF) pays -- dividends that are a result of all the dividend stocks in that fund -- you'd have $39,670. That shows the power of reinvesting your dividends.
Funds like the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF have a dividend yield of 1.1%, so to find no-brainer dividend stocks to buy now, we'll want choices that far outstrip that yield, provide stability, and have a solid engine for growth. Here are three to consider right now.
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1. AbbVie
AbbVie (ABBV 1.03%) is in rare company because it's a Dividend King -- meaning it's one of the few companies that has increased its dividend annually for more than 50 years. AbbVie is at 54 years and counting, and there's no indication that the company is looking to break that impressive streak.
AbbVie generates a significant percentage of its revenue from immunology drugs Skyrizi and Rinvoq. The company reported nearly $12.1 billion in revenue for the third quarter, with Skyrizi accounting for almost $4.1 billion in sales and Rinvoq generating $1.56 billion.
NYSE: ABBV
Key Data Points
Those numbers are expected to continue growing. AbbVie believes that Skyrizi will generate $17 billion in sales in 2027, while Rinvoq is expected to bring in $10 billion.
AbbVie stock is up 30% in 2025, which couples nicely with the stock's impressive 3% dividend yield.
2. Realty Income
Realty Income (O +0.49%) has long been one of my favorite dividend stocks. As a real estate investment trust (REIT), Realty Income owns more than 15,500 properties with a presence in every U.S. state and several European countries. Its diversified portfolio includes grocery stores, convenience stores, home improvement stores, dollar stores, pharmacies, restaurants, and more. Those long-term leases provide investors with diversification and security that the monthly rental checks will continue to roll in.
And that's significant because Realty Income is a monthly dividend stock -- and one that has a commitment to providing tons of dividend growth. Realty Income has increased its monthly dividend 133 times since the company went public in 1969, giving it a streak of more than 30 years of annual increases.
NYSE: O
Key Data Points
Because it's a REIT, Realty Income is required to pay out 90% of its profits in the form of dividends, which means investors are pocketing a juicy 5.7% yield.
3. JPMorgan Nasdaq Equity Premium Income ETF
This fund is my preferred way to invest in a large number of dividend stocks at once -- with a much higher payout than you'd get with the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF. The JPMorgan Nasdaq Equity Premium Income ETF (JEPQ 1.46%) is an actively managed ETF that invests in Nasdaq-100 stocks and generates income in the form of dividends.
The fund employs a covered-call strategy through equity-linked notes, selling out-of-the-money call options on the index. Because you are buying shares in the ETF instead of buying options yourself, you can't be assigned shares, get a margin call, or owe money should an options trade go bad. The risk you run is that shares in the ETF could lose value.
NASDAQ: JEPQ
Key Data Points
Shares are up only 3.6% so far this year, but the selling point for this ETF is its massive dividend yield of 10.1%, which gives this fund a total return of 14.2% on the year.
Note that this fund also has an expense ratio of 0.35, or $35 annually per $10,000 invested. That's a pretty typical fee for an actively managed fund -- and money well spent considering the massive dividend yield paid by the JEPQ ETF.
