What would enable income investors to enjoy a good year? I suspect they would be very happy if they received consistently high dividends every quarter.
I’m not really an income investor at this point in my life. However, benefiting from continued juicy dividends throughout next year would make me smile. The good news is that several titles appear well positioned to achieve this goal. Here are my five favorite ultra-high-yielding dividend stocks to buy for 2026.
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Ares Capital(NASDAQ:ARCC) is the largest publicly traded market business development company (BDC). Its $28.7 billion portfolio is highly diversified, with more than 15 sectors represented and no individual investments outside of its subsidiary Ivory Hill Asset Management, which represents more than 2% of the total.
This BDC pays a heavy price forward dividend yield by 9.6%. Ares Capital has either maintained or increased its dividend for 16 consecutive years. It also generated significantly higher total returns than its BDC rivals, as well as S&P500(INDEXSNP: ^GSPC)since its creation in 2004.
Enbridge(NYSE:ENB) is a leading midstream energy company, operating pipelines that transport 30% of the crude oil produced in North America and 20% of the natural gas consumed in the United States. It is also North America’s largest natural gas utility by volume, serving 7.1 million U.S. customers.
The company boasts an impressive dividend track record, with 30 consecutive years of dividend increases. Enbridge’s forward dividend yield is approximately 5.9%. Best of all, the energy leader has approximately $50 billion in identified growth opportunities between now and the end of this decade.
Energy transfer(NYSE:ET) is another large midstream energy company. The limited partnership (LP) operates more than 144,000 miles of pipelines across the United States, as well as other assets including terminals, storage facilities and fractionators.
This stock is a great choice for income investors, with a forward distribution yield of 8.1%. It also has strong growth prospects with the construction of new data centers powered by natural gas-fired power generation facilities. Two recent examples of these opportunities include Energy Transfer’s contracts with CloudBurst and Oracle(NYSE:ORCL) to supply natural gas to data centers.
Enterprise Product Partners(NYSE:EPD) it’s like the same song but a different verse. Like Energy Transfer, it is a leader in the midstream energy sector and is organized as an LP. Enterprise Products Partners operates more than 50,000 miles of pipelines, as well as liquid storage facilities, natural gas processing trains, fractionators and deepwater docks.
This energy stock isn’t far behind Enbridge, with its 27 consecutive years of distribution increases. Enterprise Products Partners’ distribution yield is an attractive 6.8%. I particularly like that the LP has a long history of generating strong cash flow to fund its distribution. I also like Enterprise’s strong balance sheet, which has earned the LP the highest credit rating in the energy midstream sector.
Last but not least, I’m a big fan of Real estate income(NYSE:O). This real estate investment trust (REIT) owns 15,542 commercial real estate properties in nine countries. Realty Income’s tenant base includes 1,647 clients representing 92 industries.
The REIT presents itself as the “real estate partner of the world’s largest companies”. This is not an exaggeration. Realty Income’s clients include well-known companies such as Dollar General(NYSE:DG), FedEx(NYSE:FDX), Home deposit(NYSE:HD)And Walmart(NASDAQ:WMT).
Like Enbridge, Realty Income has increased its dividend for 30 consecutive years. Even more impressive, the REIT has increased its dividend payout for 112 consecutive quarters. Its forward dividend yield is 5.7%. One more thing: Realty Income pays its dividend monthly rather than quarterly. I think this REIT is a great stock to make the new year a good year for income investors.
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Keith Speights holds positions at Ares Capital, Enbridge, Energy Transfer, Enterprise Products Partners and Realty Income. The Motley Fool holds positions and recommends Ares Capital, Enbridge, Home Depot, Oracle, Realty Income and Walmart. The Motley Fool recommends Enterprise Products Partners and FedEx. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
