33 Safe High-Yield S&P 500 Stocks

Dividend-paying stocks that have gotten left behind in the rally now feature higher dividend yields, which may be attractive to investors. 

But buyer beware: Many yields are high because some investors fear the stocks. But if you do extra research on specific companies and reach a certain comfort level, you may be looking at some bargains. 

Long-time income investors are constantly facing the problem of how to replace income lost when older and higher-yielding bonds and callable preferred stocks are redeemed. And more than eight years into the bull market, while interest rates are still historically low, the problem keeps getting worse. 

We have featured the S&P High-Yield Dividend Aristocrats, which are companies included in the S&P 1500 Composite Index that have raised dividends for at least 20 consecutive years. 

But many have yields that aren’t attractive. 

We also put together a list of dividend stocks culled with rather stringent criteria for free cash flow and sales growth. This time around, we are taking a far less stringent approach. 

A total of 33 companies among the S&P 1500 met these criteria:

• Dividend yields of at least 5%. 
• No cuts of regular dividends over the past five years
• A free cash flow yield, for the past 12 months, exceeding the current dividend yield.

These are the results...