Most income investors default to broad dividend exchange-traded funds (ETFs) for steady payout exposure. The Schwab US Dividend Equity ETF (NYSEARCA: SCHD | SCHD Price Prediction) ended 2025 with $71.6 billion in net assets and a 0.06% expense ratio, but its yield, like that of many of its peers, is in the low-single-digit range. With the 10-year Treasury at 4.57%, many traditional dividend baskets barely clear the risk-free line.
Natural gas equities offer a different story. Though the upstream side is volatile, the midstream operators and select producers consistently outyield the dividend ETFs. Here is how the five payers rank, counted down to the highest sustainable yield.
Yield Benchmark
| Ticker | Type | Yield |
|---|---|---|
| EQT | Gas Producer | 1.1% |
| WMB | Midstream | 2.7% |
| KMI | Midstream | 3.5% |
| OKE | Midstream | 4.6% |
| ET | Midstream (MLP) | 6.7% |
5. EQT
EQT (NYSE: EQT) is the largest U.S. natural gas producer, with a $36.2 billion market cap and shares at $57.92. The yield is modest at 1.1%, but EQT raised the quarterly payout to $0.165 in November 2025 and generated $1.83 billion of free cash flow in Q1, repaying $1.73 billion in debt. With a PE of 11, EQT is a deleveraging growth story more than an income vehicle.
4. Williams Companies
Williams Companies (NYSE: WMB) yields 2.7%, light compared to peers but anchored by 52 consecutive years of dividend payments. The board raised the annualized payout 5% to $2.10. FY26 adjusted EBITDA guidance of $8.05 billion to $8.35 billion and a 40.3% one-year return reflect Transco’s data-center pull. Williams trades at 34x earnings, the richest multiple in the group, so income buyers pay for that durability.
3. Kinder Morgan
Kinder Morgan (NYSE: KMI) yields 3.51% at $33.79 per share, with the quarterly payout lifted to $0.2975 in May. The $10 billion project backlog is roughly 90% natural gas, and 70% of future data center power demand lies within Kinder Morgan’s footprint. Net debt to adjusted EBITDA of 3.8x and the S&P upgrade to BBB+ support coverage, even as the stock has run 22.9% year to date.
2. ONEOK
ONEOK (NYSE: OKE) pays a 4.6% yield after a 4% raise to $1.07 per share quarterly. The model is roughly 90% fee-based, insulating cash flow from commodity swings. FY26 guidance calls for adjusted EBITDA of $8.0 billion to $8.5 billion and diluted EPS of $5.06 to $5.99. ONEOK extinguished $3.1 billion of long-term debt in 2025, and at 17x earnings the payout looks well covered.
1. Energy Transfer
Energy Transfer (NYSE: ET) tops the yield table at 6.7%, the only name here paying multiples of what the major dividend ETFs offer. The distribution has climbed $0.0025 per quarter for four consecutive quarters, reaching $0.3375 in May 2026. FY26 adjusted EBITDA guidance was raised to between $18.2 billion and $18.6 billion, and the Oracle data center supply contract of roughly 900 million cubic feet per day adds visibility. Forward P/E of 13x is the cheapest in the group.
The trade-off matters: Energy Transfer’s Q4 earnings of $0.25 per unit missed estimates by 31.9% on impairments and interest expense, the master limited partnership (MLP) structure issues a K-1, and the partnership previously cut its distribution in 2020. The income still beats a Treasury or any major dividend ETF by a wide margin, but the structure is not bond-equivalent.
What Income Buyers Should Watch
These five natural gas names deliver yields that most diversified dividend ETFs cannot replicate. Henry Hub spot prices spiked to $30.72 per million Btu in late January 2026 before normalizing near $3, a reminder that yield premiums compensate for commodity, leverage, and concentration risk. For investors comfortable with that profile, the natural gas value chain currently pays better than the broad dividend indexes. More yield, however, is not the same as better total return, and Williams’ run already shows how quickly multiples can stretch when the income story gets crowded.
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