Want $2,000 in Annual Dividends? Invest $11,000 in Each of These 3 Stocks
Generating high dividend income can be tricky, because you don’t want to just load up on stocks with the highest yields. That can result in disappointment later on, because if those high dividend payments aren’t safe, they could end up getting cut or suspended entirely. It’s important to carefully consider a company’s financials and what lies ahead before relying on its dividend.
Verizon Communications (VZ -0.57%), United Parcel Service (UPS -0.56%), and Vici Properties (VICI 1.39%) all pay dividends that yield more than 5% today, and they all look fairly safe. By investing $11,000 in each one of these high-yielding stocks, you could generate around $2,000 in dividends over the course of a full year. Here’s why these can be excellent income stocks to buy right now.
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Verizon Communications
One of the most underrated dividend stocks available today is Verizon. The stock struggles to generate much momentum, even though its payout looks remarkably safe. Over the past 12 months, shares of Verizon are only up around 7%. But when you consider that its 6.4% yield is safer than it looks, it should be attracting a lot more interest from dividend investors.
Verizon’s payout ratio is a sustainable 64% of its earnings. The company has also increased its dividend for 18 consecutive years. In 10 years, the company’s quarterly per-share dividend has gone from $0.55 to $0.6775 — that’s an increase of 23%. By investing $11,000 into this top telecom stock, you’d be generating approximately $704 in annual dividends, based on its current yield, and there’s a strong possibility that the payout will rise over time.
This year, the company projects to generate free cash flow of at least $17.5 billion, which will be comfortably higher than how much it pays out in dividends over an entire year (around $11.3 billion).
At just 10 times its trailing earnings, this can be a terrific dividend stock to add to your portfolio right now.
United Parcel Service
Logistics giant United Parcel Service, better known as UPS, offers a slightly higher yield than Verizon at 6.5%. If you invest $11,000 into the stock, you can also expect to generate a little more in annual dividends — $715.
Share prices of UPS are down by 20% since the start of the year (returns as of June 16), and that has pushed its yield higher, making this an attractive time to load up on the stock. Its payout ratio is around 100%, and it has generated $5.4 billion in free cash flow over the past 12 months, which is about as much as its dividend payments have totaled over that timeframe. Although that seems tight, the company is making efforts to cut costs to improve its bottom line. Earlier this year, it announced plans to lay off 20,000 workers amid challenging macroeconomic conditions and uncertainty.
UPS’ business has remained fairly stable thus far, however, with revenue through the first three months of the year totaling $21.5 billion, versus $21.7 billion in the prior-year period.
The stock trades at around 15 times its trailing earnings, which is a bit cheaper than normal, and gives you some margin of safety in the event that it doesn’t perform as well as you might expect. There is some risk here, but with the dividend still sustainable now and cost reductions in place, UPS should be able to continue making dividend payments for the foreseeable future.
Vici Properties
The lowest-yielding stock on this list is Vici Properties, a real estate investment trust (REIT) that currently pays investors a dividend that yields 5.4%. An $11,000 investment in this stock would produce annual dividend income totaling roughly $594. When you add that to the income you could generate from the other stocks listed above, then your total dividend income from all three of these stocks (when investing $11,000 in each of them) would total around $2,013.
For REITs, the key metric to focus on is funds from operations, or FFO. That’s an adjusted earnings calculation that helps these companies determine how much they can afford to pay out in dividends. For the first three months of 2025, Vici’s FFO per share totaled $0.51. That is higher than its current quarterly dividend of $0.4325, suggesting that the payout is safe.
REITs can be safe income-generating investments to own, since they bring in a lot of recurring income from their tenants. Vici’s portfolio includes top gaming destinations such as Caesars Palace in Las Vegas and the Venetian Resort. Even if the economy struggles, the REIT’s robust portfolio, which centers on some of the biggest resorts in the world, should offer you some safety.
Vici is another fairly modestly priced stock to own, as it trades at 13 times its trailing earnings.