In this article, we will take a look at the Dividend Contenders List: Top 20 Stocks.
Dividend contenders are companies that have raised their dividends every year for at least a decade, but have not yet reached 25 straight years of growth. Investors often pay attention to this group for a simple reason. These companies have shown they can keep increasing payouts through different market environments. For investors who rely on income, that kind of consistency tends to matter.
Nuveen chief investment officer Saira Malik wrote recently that market volatility is likely to remain part of the landscape. She pointed to uncertainty tied to macro conditions, geopolitics, policy changes, and shifting sentiment around “artificial intelligence.” These forces do not move in a straight line, and markets often react before clarity sets in.
Malik said investors could face more turbulence in 2026. Dividend growth companies can help smooth out those periods. There is no guaranteed way to avoid market setbacks, she noted, but history shows that companies with a record of raising dividends have delivered higher returns with lower risk than many of their peers. Dividends and their growth are not guaranteed, but their predictability can help steady portfolios when markets become unsettled.
The data points in that direction. U.S. common dividend increases on a net basis reached $13.1 billion in the fourth quarter of 2025, up from $11.7 billion a year earlier, according to a report by S&P Dow Jones Indices.
Looking ahead, growth in payouts is expected to continue, though at a measured pace. Companies are projected to deliver mid-single-digit dividend increases in the new year. Howard Silverblatt, senior index analyst at S&P Dow Jones Indices, said companies are making these decisions while dealing with ongoing uncertainty and a fast-changing policy backdrop, which continues to shape how they approach dividends.
Given this, we will take a look at some high-yield stocks in the dividend contenders list.
Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash
Our Methodology:
For this list, we looked at a group of dividend contenders, recognized for consistently increasing dividends for 10 consecutive years, yet for less than 25 years. From this list, we chose companies with the highest dividend yields as of January 22 and arranged them in order from lowest to highest yield.
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. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 427.7% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 264 percentage points (see more details here).
20. Analog Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADI)
Dividend Yield as of January 22: 1.30%
On January 21, BofA raised its price target on Analog Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADI) to $350 from $320, while maintaining a Buy rating on the stock. The move came alongside a broader update to the bank’s diversified analog semiconductor coverage, with higher targets across most of the group.
BofA said it expects modest Q4 earnings beats and stronger Q1 guidance from many names in the space. In the bank’s view, industrial-focused chipmakers could be the ones to lead the next leg higher, supported by improving demand in several end markets, steady pricing, and continued strength tied to AI-related buildouts.
Analog Devices has also been putting more weight behind innovation over the past few years. The company has been investing consistently in R&D to keep pace with customer needs across industrial, automotive, communications, and consumer markets, while protecting its technology advantage. That approach is centered on staying close to customers, keeping product development on track, and aligning its portfolio with longer-term themes such as factory digitization and the ongoing expansion of AI infrastructure.
Analog Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADI) is a global semiconductor company that designs and sells integrated circuits, software, and subsystem solutions using high-performance analog, mixed-signal, and digital signal processing technologies.
19. BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)
Dividend Yield as of January 22: 2.03%
On January 16, BofA raised its price target on BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) to $1,467 from $1,431 and maintained a Buy rating on the stock. After reviewing the company’s quarterly results, the firm also increased its EPS estimates for 2025, 2026, 2027, and 2028. BofA said the higher outlook mainly reflects stronger management and performance fee expectations, though it also noted some pressure from a lower operating margin.
BlackRock’s fourth-quarter profit came in above Wall Street estimates on January 15, helped by the broader market rally. Higher asset prices lifted fee revenue and pushed the firm’s assets under management to a record $14 trillion. US stocks rallied last year as enthusiasm around AI picked up, interest rates eased, and economic conditions stayed relatively steady. That backdrop encouraged investors to shift money back into lower-cost index strategies. At the same time, cooling inflation and a softer job market led the Federal Reserve to take a more dovish tone, which supported strong inflows into BlackRock’s fixed-income products.
During the quarter, equity product inflows totaled $126.05 billion, slightly lower than a year earlier. Fixed-income products brought in $83.77 billion. Long-term net inflows reached about $267.8 billion, driven largely by continued momentum in the firm’s ETF business, which remains its key engine of organic growth. BlackRock also posted a record $698.3 billion in net inflows for the full year.
Performance fees climbed 67% to $754 million in the quarter, reflecting stronger results in private markets.
BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) is a global investment management firm that provides investment and technology services to both institutional and retail clients.
18. Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE:LMT)
Dividend Yield as of January 22: 2.35%
On January 15, Susquehanna lifted its price target on Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE:LMT) to $660 from $590, while keeping a Positive rating on the shares. The change was part of the firm’s Q4 preview for the aerospace and defense space.
Susquehanna said conditions across the industry still look “quite favorable.” It pointed to strength in commercial aerospace, steady defense spending, and healthy aftermarket demand. In the firm’s view, the most important parts of the market continue to hold up well over the medium term, which is why it pushed valuation targets higher across the group.
Recent delivery data also supports the idea that Lockheed has momentum. Reuters reported on January 8 that Lockheed delivered 191 F-35 fighter jets in 2025 to the US and partner nations, setting a new annual record for the program. Lockheed said in a statement that “Annual F-35 production is now running at a pace five times faster than any other allied fighter currently in production.”
That kind of output matters because the F-35 remains one of Lockheed’s biggest profit engines. The company delivered 110 jets in 2024, and the program is now responsible for roughly one-third of total revenue. With many countries raising defense budgets as geopolitical tensions rise, demand has remained steady for large, long-cycle platforms like the F-35.
Lockheed is also scaling up production on the missile defense side. Reuters reported earlier in January that the company signed a seven-year agreement with the U.S. Department of War to expand annual PAC-3 missile interceptor capacity to 2,000 units, up from around 600 previously.
Interest in PAC-3 (Patriot Advanced Capability) interceptors has been climbing as the U.S. and its allies spend more heavily on air defense systems.
Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE:LMT) is a global security and aerospace company that develops and manufactures advanced defense technologies and provides long-term system integration and support services.
Hedge Fund Resource Center