These S&P 500 Dividend Stocks Are Quietly Crushing the Index — And Paying You Monthly
The S&P 500 index includes a broad variety of companies. Some of them pay little to no dividends, while others offer decent yields.
Among the S&P 500 companies that pay dividends, the vast majority of them distribute cash payments to the shareholders once every three months. Only a few of them pay dividends on a monthly basis.
I discovered three monthly-paying S&P 500 dividend stocks with something special in common. Notably, all three of them have recently outperformed the S&P 500 index in terms of share-price gains.
Furthermore, all three of these stocks happen to offer high dividend yields that you can take advantage of in 2026. I won’t make you wait any longer — let’s start right off with index-crushing, monthly-paying S&P 500 dividend pick number one.
Realty Income (O)
The best-known of today’s three stock selections is perhaps the most famous publicly listed real estate investment trust (REIT). It’s Realty Income (NYSE:O), which maintains a diversified portfolio of more than 15,500 properties.
Income-focused investors should know that Realty Income bills itself as “The Monthly Dividend Company.” The company’s monthly dividend distributions during the past year have been around $0.27 per share per month.
Real estate firms in the S&P 500 will often offer tempting yields to prospective investors. At the moment, the expected forward annual dividend yield for Realty Income stock is 4.8%.
Now, I can’t claim that Realty Income stock has crushed the S&P 500 on a long-term time frame. However, recent trends point to an eye-opening pattern with REIT stocks in the S&P 500. Here’s the S&P 500’s performance during the past month, using the State Street SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSEARCA:SPY) as a proxy for the index.
As it turns out, the S&P 500 is down 1.7% over the past month. In contrast, Realty Income stock is up 8% during that time.
We can debate whether a month is significant, but there’s no denying that Realty Income stock is crushing the S&P 500 index according to those two charts. Now, let’s move on to stock pick number two and identify some actionable ideas for investors.
Healthpeak Properties (DOC)
As you may have surmised by now, S&P 500 dividend stock pick number two is also in the real estate business. Specifically, Healthpeak Properties (NYSE:DOC) is a healthcare-focused REIT with financial interests in hospitals, laboratories, and more.
Like the other members of this list, Healthpeak Properties is in the S&P 500 and pays dividend distributions every month instead of only quarterly. That’s a major benefit since it allows for more frequent reinvestment and wealth-compounding opportunities.
It’s no exaggeration to say that Healthpeak Properties is ultra-generous to its shareholders. Believe it or not, the forward annual dividend yield for Healthpeak Properties stock is 6.92% — a very high figure for an S&P 500 company.
Is DOC stock crushing the S&P 500 lately, though? The answer is yes, as Healthpeak Properties stock gained 6% during the past month (versus the aforementioned 1.7% loss in the S&P 500).
At this point, it’s reasonable to wonder why these REIT stocks are suddenly outperforming the overall stock market. There are multiple contributing factors, but the main one could be the market’s anticipation that mortgage interest rates will decline.
LTC Properties (LTC)
Finally, we have one more S&P 500 member that distributes cash dividends monthly instead of making you wait three months. Pick number three is another REIT, and this one’s called LTC Properties (NYSE:LTC); it’s a real-estate firm that mainly specializes in senior housing and healthcare properties.
LTC stock wouldn’t be on this list unless we could honestly claim that it’s crushing the S&P 500 index. Glancing at the one-month chart, we can observe that LTC Properties stock gained 9.5%.
That’s a breathtaking result for just one month, so trend followers should definitely check out LTC stock. Just bear in mind that real-estate stocks aren’t guaranteed to outperform the overall stock market on a long-term basis.
That said, it’s possible that REIT stocks could ride the momentum of anticipated interest-rate cuts in 2026. And if you’re going to buy REIT stocks, why not stick to ones within the prestigious S&P 500 index?
To wrap it all up, you’re probably wondering how LTC Properties’ dividend stacks up against the likes of Realty Income and Healthpeak Properties. Getting straight to the point, LTC Properties stock features a 5.7% forward annual dividend yield, making LTC shares a tempting choice for passive income investors seeking monthly distributions.