3 High-Yield Dividend Stocks Worth Loading Up On This Month
With yields as high as 5.6%, these three dividend stocks have proven to be reliable income producers through good times and bad.
By Reuben Gregg Brewer– Sep 12, 2026
Key Points
- Enterprise Products Partners has 28 annual distribution increases and a 5.6% yield.
- Realty Income has 31 annual dividend increases and a 5.3% yield.
- PepsiCo is a Dividend King and offers a 4.3% yield.
The stock market is trading near all-time highs. JPMorgan Chase
CEO Jamie Dimon is warning Wall Street about tectonic plates beneath the financial surface that could “cause meaningful disruptions when they shift or collide.” Some of the risks include geopolitical conflict, inflation, and elevated debt levels. If you are looking for high-yield dividend stocks in this environment, you need to focus on resilient businesses.
Here’s why Enterprise Products Partners (EPD-1.09%), Realty Income (O-0.12%), and PepsiCo (PEP-0.24%) should be on your short list in September. And, the best part, is that the lowest yield on this list is roughly 4x higher than the miserly 1% yield on offer from the S&P 500 index (^GSPC+0.86%).
Image source: Getty Images.
These dividends have lived through hard times
Of the high-yield investments on this list, Enterprise Products Partners has the shorted streak of annual distribution increases at 28 years. However, that’s about as long as the midstream master limited partnership (MLP) has been publicly traded. Real estate investment trust (REIT) Realty Income’s streak is 31 years. And PepsiCo, one of the world’s largest consumer staples businesses, has an incredible 53-year track record, making it a Dividend King.
As of this writing, it is 2026, so each of those streaks started before the dot-com crash and survived it. They continued through the Great Recession, when there were legitimate concerns that the global financial system would collapse. And they got through the coronavirus pandemic, when governments around the world effectively shuttered their economies. If you need a dividend you can count on, these three high-yielders have proven they can keep paying through extreme adversity.
Enterprise lets you sidestep commodity risk in the energy sector
North American midstream giant Enterprise Products Partners has the highest yield at 5.6%. The MLP operates in the highly volatile energy sector, but it is a very boring business that throws off reliable cash flows. That’s because its collection of energy infrastructure assets, such as pipelines, helps to move oil and natural gas around the world. It charges fees for the use of its assets, so the prices of oil and natural gas aren’t the driving force of its business; demand for these vital fuels is.
Realty Income has a diversified global footprint and a net lease focus
Realty Income’s 5.3% yield is backed by a massive portfolio of single-tenant net lease properties. A net lease requires the tenant to pay most property-level operating costs, thereby reducing Realty Income’s expenses and risk. Meanwhile, the portfolio includes over 15,500 assets spread across North America and Europe. While roughly 80% of its properties are retail, that is the most liquid net lease asset class. Its industrial exposure and other properties, such as casinos and data centers, add meaningfully to diversification. And the REIT has been expanding its reach into debt financing and institutional asset management, complementary areas that add even more diversification.
NASDAQ: PEP
PepsiCo
PepsiCo sells low-cost products that people buy regularly
PepsiCo has the most impressive streak by far, as its 53 years of increases puts it on the Dividend King list. The current 4.3% yield is historically high, as the consumer staples giant faces headwinds. However, PepsiCo has successfully navigated headwinds many times over the past 53 years. It is highly likely to do so again. One key feature here is the company’s diversified business, with industry-leading positions in beverages, snacks, and packaged food products.
Consider adding all three dividend stocks in September
Of the three high-yield dividend stocks here, PepsiCo is probably the riskiest choice. But that speaks more to the low-risk nature of Enterprise and Realty Income than to the risks posed by PepsiCo. With well-above market yields and incredible dividend histories, this trio could enhance your income stream while, at the same time, helping you sleep at night. Now, before the tectonic plates Jamie Dimon warned about crash together, is the time to add reliable dividend stocks like these to your portfolio.
I keep a small basket of income names and the 5.6% one would make me look at the payout history before anything else — a high yield that got cut two years ago isn’t income, it’s a warning. Good to see the record through the bad stretch actually addressed rather than just the headline number.
My own week was less exciting: I had to get a stack of expense receipts and a signed consent form into one PDF under a portal’s size cap. I shot them on my phone and ran them through LensUp, which put both sides of my ID on a single page and let me pick a target size for the upload. The compression aims at the size you pick, so it can land a bit over — I had to run one receipt twice. Files never leave the machine, processing happens in the browser tab, which is the only reason I was willing to put a signed form through it.