10 High-Yield Dividend Stocks for a Rocky Market

Hasbro stock yields 3.6%. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Key Points

• The stock market is strong, but the government is shut down, the job market is slowing, and inflation is stuck at 3%.
• High-dividend stocks in the S&P 500’s top quintile, yielding 4.5%, showed 0.8 beta, indicating less volatility during market downturns.
• CFRA identified S&P 500 stocks with high yields, strong analyst ratings, and payout ratios of 75% or lower, including Exxon Mobil and Merck.

Looking for a way to play defense in your stock portfolio? Dividend stocks such as Exxon , Hasbro, and Invesco may be the answer.

Recently the stock market and economy seem like they are on totally separate tracks. The S&P 500 was up nearly 1% on Monday, on course for another big gain after posting a record high Friday, its 34th of the year.

Meanwhile, the government is shut down, the job market is slowing and inflation is stuck at 3%—well above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target.

The mismatch has plenty of investors worried stocks may sooner or later pull back.

One way to protect yourself, according to CFRA chief investment strategist Sam Stovall, is to target shares with high dividend yields, which can help investors avoid losses in a selloff.

Stovall broke stocks in the S&P 500 into quintiles by yield. Those in the top quintile had average yields of 4.5%, he found, while being far less volatile than the overall market. The shares had a beta of 0.8, meaning if the stock market fell by 10%, they would decline by just 8% on average.

Of course, there’s a catch. Stocks with the highest yields come with their own risks.

“Like blades of grass that stick up too far and end up being trimmed back, stocks may sport elevated yields due to unsustainable payout ratios,” Stovall wrote. A stock’s payout ratio is its dividend as a percentage of its earnings.

To come up with a list of stocks with big payouts that still look relatively healthy, CFRA then screened for the 10 S&P 500 stocks with the highest yields that also enjoy buy or strong buy ratings from its fundamental analysts, and sport dividend payout ratios of 75% or lower, which should give investors a margin of safety.

The list includes a number of blue chip names dividend investors are likely familiar with, such as Exxon Mobil, yielding 3.4%; Merck, 3.7%; and Target, 4.7%.

These picks aren’t without risks.

Shares of Target, for instance, are down nearly 30% this year, as the company struggles to refresh its stores and find a viable e-commerce strategy. Last week Target said it would [cut nearly 2,000 corporate jobs](https://www.barrons.com/articles/target-layoffs-2025-stock-price-f4511adf?) as a part of a turnaround effort.

Still, CFRA saw the layoffs as a positive step that should help the company get back on track over the next few years.

“A leaner corporate structure should allow faster decision-making and greater innovation,” wrote analyst Arun Sundaram on Friday.

Other picks such as Hasbro, which yields 3.6%, and Invesco, 3.6%, have had a strong year, but may have more room to run.

Barron’s recently highlighted Invesco as one of the few traditional mutual fund managers that seems poised for growth in the new ETF era. Invesco shares have rallied more than 30% in 2025. But the company still trades at just 10 times forward earnings, compared with 16 times for financial stocks on average.

In addition to these names, CFRA’s full list includes Comcast , yielding 4.9%; EOG Resources , 3.8%; Omnicom Group , 3.5%; J.M. Smucker 4.2%; and VICI Properties, 5.8%.

Write to Ian Salisbury at ian.salisbury@barrons.com