All the major Wall Street firms we cover here at 24/7 Wall St. have a list of the top stock picks for their institutional and retail clients to invest in. Typically, these are companies analysts have high conviction in and feel strongly about their fundamentals and forward-looking prospects. In addition, they often have strong upside to the assigned price target and are assigned a Buy or Overweight rating, depending on the company providing the coverage. After a furious rally off the late-March lows and with all major indices trading at or near all-time highs, many investors are treading carefully as we head toward September. With a very solid second-quarter earnings season about to wrap up, we were interested to see which stocks were on the August edition of J.P. Morgan’s Analyst Focus List.
No new companies were added to the August edition, and two energy companies were removed. We decided to screen the list for dividend stocks that J.P. Morgan analysts are very bullish on, and all five offer steady passive income and the potential to deliver solid total return.
The research team at J.P. Morgan updates its U.S. Analyst Focus List monthly, as the company describes:
The U.S. Analyst Focus List is updated monthly. Names may be removed mid-month when a valuation target has been largely or wholly achieved, or the original rationale is no longer valid. We may also add new ideas mid-month. Analysts will publish the explanation for all mid-month changes in a research note.
Why Do We Recommend J.P. Morgan’s Analyst Focus List Stocks?
J.P. Morgan is a leading investment firm on Wall Street and worldwide. The firm’s top-notch research department continues to provide institutional and high-net-worth clients with the best ideas across the investment spectrum and is likely to do so for years to come.
Here are the five highest-yielding J.P. Morgan Analyst Focus List stocks.
Annaly Capital
With a massive 12.20% dividend yield and trading right near the J.P. Morgan target price, this is a total passive-income play. Annaly Capital Management (NYSE: NLY | NLY Price Prediction) is a diversified capital manager with investment strategies across the mortgage finance sector.
The company owns a portfolio of real estate-related investments, including:
- Mortgage pass-through certificates
- Collateralized mortgage obligations
- Credit risk transfer (CRT) securities
- Securities representing interests in or obligations backed by pools of mortgage loans, residential mortgage loans, and mortgage servicing rights
Its investment groups include:
- Annaly Agency Group
- Annaly Residential Credit Group
- Annaly Mortgage Servicing Rights Group
Annaly Agency Group invests in agency mortgage-backed securities collateralized by residential mortgages, while Annaly Residential Credit Group invests in non-agency residential mortgage assets within residential and commercial markets. Annaly Mortgage Servicing Rights Group invests in MSR, which grants the right to service residential mortgage loans in exchange for a portion of the interest payments on those loans.
The J.P. Morgan price target of $24 is likely to go higher.
AT&T
AT&T (NYSE: T) is the world’s fourth-largest telecommunications company, measured by revenue. The legacy telecommunications company has undergone a lengthy restructuring process while maintaining a solid dividend yield of 4.52%. Thirteen analysts have assigned the stock a Buy rating, indicating broad Wall Street support. AT&T provides telecommunications, media, and technology services worldwide. Its Communications segment offers wireless voice and data communications services.
AT&T sells through its company-owned stores, agents, and third-party retail stores:
- Handsets
- Wireless data cards
- Wireless computing devices
- Carrying cases
- Hands-free devices
AT&T also provides:
- Data
- Voice
- SecuT
- Cloud solutions
- Outsourcing
- Managed and provided professional services
- Customer premises equipment for multinational corporations, small and mid-sized businesses, and governmental and wholesale customers
This segment also provides residential customers with fiber broadband and legacy voice telephony services.
The company markets its communications services and products under:
- AT&T
- Cricket
- AT&T PREPAID
- AT&T Fiber
The company’s Latin America segment provides wireless services in Mexico and video services throughout the region. This segment markets its services and products under the AT&T and Unefon brands.
J.P. Morgan has a $33 price target for the stock.
First Industrial Realty Trust
While off most people’s radar, this real estate investment trust (REIT) pays a solid 3% dividend and offers decent upside to JPMorgan’s target. First Industrial Realty Trust (NYSE: FR) is a self-administered and fully integrated real estate company. The company owns, operates, develops, and acquires logistics properties. Through its fully integrated operating and investing platform, it provides facilities and customer service to multinational corporations and regional firms essential to their supply chains.
In total, the company owns and is developing approximately 71.6 million square feet of industrial space concentrated in 15 target MSAs. Its tenants are engaged in a variety of businesses, including:
- E-commerce
- Third-party logistics and transportation
- Consumer and other manufactured products
- Retail and consumer services
- Food and beverage
- Lumber and building materials
- Wholesale goods
- Health services
- Governmental and other
Through a wholly owned TRS of the operating partnership, the operating partnership owns an equity interest in a joint venture. The company also provides various services to the joint venture.
J.P. Morgan’s target price is $74.
Digital Realty Trust
Digital Realty Trust (NYSE: DLR) owns, operates, and invests in carrier-neutral data centers worldwide and pays a solid 2.47% dividend. This industry leader is one of the best pure-play data center stocks for AI exposure. Digital Realty is a REIT that owns, acquires, develops, and operates data centers through its operating partnership subsidiary.
The company is focused on providing data center, colocation, and interconnection solutions for domestic and international customers across a variety of industry verticals, ranging from:
- Cloud and information technology services
- Communications and social networking in financial services
- Manufacturing
- Energy
- Healthcare
- Consumer products
Its portfolio includes over 308 data centers: 121 in the United States, 112 in Europe, 36 in Latin America, 16 in Africa, 16 in Asia, six in Australia, and three in Canada.
PlatformDIGITAL is a global data center platform designed to scale digital businesses, enabling customers to deploy their critical infrastructure with a trusted international data center provider.
J.P. Morgan has set a target price of $235 for the shares.
EPR Properties
This REIT invests in some of the most popular entertainment companies and was added to the JPMorgan Equity Analysts Focus List in July. EPR Properties (NYSE: EPR) is a leading experiential net-lease REIT specializing in select enduring experiential properties and pays a hefty 6.02% dividend.
EPR recently increased its monthly dividend by 5.1% and expects funds from operations (FFO) per share growth of more than 5% in 2026, supporting continued dividend increases. After suspending its dividend during COVID-19, EPR has recovered with five consecutive years of dividend increases. Its $6.9 billion property portfolio generates solid cash flow, and FFO well covers the $0.31 per share monthly dividend.
J.P. Morgan gave this brief reason for adding the shares in July: “High dividend yield that we see as safe and growing, with earnings growth likely to be toward the top of the net-lease REIT peer group.”
The company operates through two segments. The Experiential segment consists of approximately:
- 148 theater properties
- 59 eat and play properties
- 25 attraction properties
- 11 ski properties
- Four experiential lodging properties
- One gaming property
- One cultural property
- 22 fitness and wellness properties
The company’s Education segment comprises 46 early childhood education centers and nine private schools.
The investment portfolio includes ownership of and long-term mortgages on experiential and educational properties. The company has investments in approximately 44 states. All of its owned single-tenant properties are leased on long-term, triple-net terms.
J.P. Morgan’s price target is $62.
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