Should You Buy the 3 Highest-Paying Dividend Stocks in the S&P 500?

• Chemical shaper LyondellBasell Industries' 11.4% output is worryingly high, fixed the company's anemic net results.

• Medical bureau REIT Alexandria Real Estate Equities' 8.6% output is precocious due to the fact that immoderate ticker services haven't caught up to its dividend cut.

• Food shaper Conagra Brands' 8.4% output is precocious due to the fact that the concern is struggling astatine a hard constituent for user staples makers.

• 10 stocks we similar amended than LyondellBasell Industries ›

Dividend investors often execute a elemental surface erstwhile looking for stocks: fertile the S&P 500 index (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) by yield, from highest to lowest. The apical names connected the resulting database are often a postulation of companies that request a batch of further scrutiny.

Right now, the apical 3 are LyondellBasell Industries (NYSE: LYB), Alexandria Real Estate Equities (NYSE: ARE), and Conagra Brands (NYSE: CAG). You shouldn't bargain immoderate of them earlier you recognize the crushed for their lofty yields.

LyondellBasell is simply a chemicals company. Management has been unfastened astir the headwinds it is facing, highlighting successful the 3rd 4th of 2025 that "LYB continues to navigate a challenging marketplace situation portion remaining focused connected delivering semipermanent value." When a quarterly net merchandise starts similar that, you cognize it's going to beryllium a pugnacious read. It was.

For starters, the institution announced one-time write-offs totaling $3.78 per share. Not surprisingly, that pushed the bottommost enactment of the income connection into the red. However, adjacent if you region the one-time charges, net inactive declined a immense 47% twelvemonth implicit year. Through the archetypal 9 months of 2025, net dropped astir 64%. And absorption warned that the 4th fourth is usually a anemic 1 for the company, truthful LyondellBasell's results aren't apt to spot a large betterment erstwhile it reports last 2025 fiscal results.

Investors person enactment this banal successful the doghouse for a reason. So far, the dividend has been supported, but it wouldn't beryllium astonishing if the committee of directors decides to chopped the dividend successful 2026. Earnings would person to rapidly instrumentality to 2024 levels for LyondellBasell's dividend payout ratio to get backmost beneath 100%. The chemicals manufacture tends to beryllium cyclical, truthful a large turnaround is possible, but astir dividend investors astir apt won't privation to stake connected it. The monolithic 11.4% output astir apt isn't worthy the risk.

Alexandria Realty is worthy discussing for 2 reasons. First, the aesculapian bureau existent property concern spot (REIT) chopped its dividend successful aboriginal December 2025. The wage day connected that little outgo is successful mid-January 2026. This brings up the 2nd point: The output that astir punctuation services amusement is astir 8.6%, adjacent though that's not what the output volition beryllium aft the adjacent dividend outgo is made. Essentially, the listed output isn't real. If you set for the dividend cut, the guardant output is astir 5.3%.