In this article, we are going to discuss the 12 best NASDAQ stocks to buy for dividends.
Dividends offer investors a reliable source of income, but when it comes to building long-term wealth, capital appreciation has usually done most of the heavy lifting. That has especially been true for indexes like the NASDAQ-100, where companies have traditionally preferred to reinvest their earnings into research, innovation, and business expansion instead of paying sizeable dividends, according to Invesco.
That pattern has started to shift. More NASDAQ-listed companies now pay regular dividends as technology firms increasingly return a portion of their profits to shareholders. They are still investing aggressively in growth, but many have reached a stage where they can do both.
Since 2024, several leading tech companies have launched dividend programs, giving a meaningful boost to the overall dividend pool. For a long time, dividends were mostly associated with mature value companies, not the fast-growing businesses driving the AI boom. That distinction is becoming less obvious. Analysts say these dividend payments can attract a broader mix of investors while also putting excess cash to work. Growth companies have generally favored reinvesting their profits rather than distributing them, but experts such as Ted Mortonson of Baird do not see the recent shift as a concern. In his view, it reflects the strength of these businesses rather than a slowdown in their growth. He made the following statement:
“I don’t view it as a problem. I view it as they’ve won. They’ve won the technology side. They’ve won on the business-model side, and they’re going to win on the Gen AI cycle.”
Dividend-paying companies, including many on the Nasdaq, are often well-established businesses with a consistent record of generating earnings and cash flow. That kind of stability can make their shares less volatile than many growth stocks, which is one reason they continue to attract investors looking for steadier returns.
With that said, here are the Best NASDAQ Dividends Stocks to Buy Now.
Photo by Dan Dennis on Unsplash
Our Methodology
To collect data for this article, we referred to screeners to identify large-cap stocks trading on NASDAQ and then shortlisted the ones that had an annual dividend yield of over 2%, as of June 25. We then ranked these stocks by the number of hedge funds invested in them at the end of Q1 2026, as per the Insider Monkey database. We kept our final selection limited to companies that have recently reported noteworthy developments likely to impact investor sentiment. The following are the Best NASDAQ Dividend Stocks According to Hedge Funds.
Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Insider Monkey’s quarterly newsletter strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 599.2% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 372 percentage points (see more details here).
12. Vodafone Group Public Limited Company (NASDAQ:VOD)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 26
Dividend Yield as of June 25: 3.93%
Vodafone Group Public Limited Company (NASDAQ:VOD) is a leading technology communications company in Europe and Africa, keeping society connected and building a digital future.
On June 15, Deutsche Bank lowered its price target on Vodafone Group Public Limited Company (NASDAQ:VOD) from £155 to £150, but kept its ‘Buy’ rating on the shares. The revised price objective still implies an upside of over 42% from the current levels.
Similarly, earlier on June 11, Barclays analyst Maurice Patrick also trimmed the firm’s price target on Vodafone Group Public Limited Company (NASDAQ:VOD) from £120 to £110, in addition to downgrading the stock from ‘Overweight’ to ‘Equal Weight’.
According to the analyst firm, while much of the European telecom sector is benefiting from a recovery in revenue and EBITDA growth, Vodafone continues to struggle in its important German market, where competition remains high.
Vodafone reported core earnings of €11.4 billion ($13.4 billion) in its FY 2026 report last month, up 4.5% YoY on an organic basis, supported by service revenue growth across markets. That said, the company witnessed a decline in both service revenue and adjusted EBITDA in Germany, its biggest market.
Vodafone is targeting core earnings of €11.9 billion to €12.2 billion for the current year.
11. Sanofi (NASDAQ:SNY)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 32
Dividend Yield as of June 25: 5.79%
Sanofi (NASDAQ:SNY) is a healthcare biopharmaceutical company that engages in the research, development, manufacture, and marketing of therapeutic solutions.
Sanofi (NASDAQ:SNY) announced on June 22 that it was appointing Dr Paulo Fontoura as its new Executive Vice President, Global Head of Research & Development Pharma. Dr. Fontoura will replace Dr. Houman Ashrafian and will take charge of his new role on September 1. As head of R&D pharma, he will oversee the company’s research, translational medicine, clinical development, and regulatory affairs arms, driving innovation while focusing on advancing a differentiated pipeline and accelerating the delivery of medicines.
Following the announcement, BofA analyst Sachin Jain stated that the leadership change is likely to be viewed favorably by investors, given Sanofi’s recent series of setbacks in R&D. However, the analyst highlighted Dr. Fontoura’s “mixed track record” from his time at Roche and noted that his new role will likely be a multi-year project to revitalize Sanofi’s R&D organization.
Bofa maintains a ‘Neutral’ rating and €92 price target on Sanofi (NASDAQ:SNY), implying an upside of almost 25% from the current levels.
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