5 Safe Dividend Stocks Yielding 6.9% or More
A yield above 6% looks like income until the cash flow behind it disappears. Four names on this list pass the coverage test, and one is here specifically because it just failed it.
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Yield is the headline. Coverage is the actual question. This month’s high-yield buy-list groups five US-listed names where a payout above 6% is only interesting if the cash flow behind it is durable. The anchor data point: Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES | WES Price Prediction) currently posts a 7.69% dividend yield with a forward P/E of 12, and it isn’t even the highest-yielding name on this list. Four of the five clear the 6.9% threshold on the strength of their coverage metrics. The fifth is here as a warning.
Western Midstream Partners
WES is the cleanest coverage story on this list. The MLP raised its quarterly distribution to $0.93 per unit for a $3.72 annualized rate, following a step-up from $0.91. Distributable cash flow guidance for 2026 sits at $1.85 billion to $2.05 billion, against Adjusted EBITDA guidance of $2.50 billion to $2.70 billion that management said is tracking to the high end. Q1 2026 delivered record Adjusted EBITDA of $683.1 million, up 15% year over year, on revenue of $1.124 billion. The balance sheet carries roughly $2 billion of liquidity with investment-grade ratings, and the pending $1.6 billion Brazos Delaware II bolt-on is expected to add about $100 million of incremental EBITDA. Units have returned 27.29% year to date and 34.43% over one year.
Risk: Free cash flow after distributions swung to negative $137.4 million in Q1 2026, largely a capex-and-M&A timing issue but worth watching until the Brazos deal closes.
Gaming and Leisure Properties
Gaming and Leisure Properties (NASDAQ:GLPI) is the casino-focused net-lease REIT built for AFFO-covered dividends. Q2 2026 dividend was $0.82 per share, a 5.1% raise from $0.78, running at an annualized forward rate of $3.28. AFFO came in at $1.03 per diluted share in Q2, up 10.1% year over year, and management raised full-year 2026 AFFO guidance to $4.10 to $4.12 per diluted share. The dividend sits comfortably inside that AFFO envelope. Leverage runs 4.8x net debt to Adjusted EBITDA, below the 5.0x to 5.5x target range, meaning the $2.02 billion development pipeline at a blended 8.77% cap rate can be funded without equity issuance. Company management previously cited an annualized dividend yield of 7.4% based on its Q2 quarter-end share price.
Risk: Rent coverage on the vast majority of leases sits above 1.8x, but Caesars at 1.59x and Amended Pinnacle at 1.70x run below that bar. Consumer discretionary softness at those operators would be felt first here.
Hess Midstream
Hess Midstream (NYSE:HESM) has quietly executed one of the more consistent distribution-growth records among MLPs. The latest quarterly distribution stepped up to $0.7888 per Class A share from $0.7792, extending a sequential run from $0.7012 in early 2025 through seven straight quarterly hikes. Forward annualized distribution now sits at $3.1552. Units have returned 23.53% year to date. The business runs on fee-based contracts with minimum-volume commitments from Hess Corporation, and management has previously targeted at least 5% annual per-Class-A distribution growth through 2026 alongside at least 10% annual growth in net income, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted Free Cash Flow in each of 2025 and 2026. Gross Adjusted EBITDA margin ran at 81% in the most recent disclosed quarter, and the partnership expects to generate more than $1.25 billion of financial flexibility through 2026 for unit repurchases and other returns.
Risk: Single-sponsor concentration. Throughput volumes are tied to Hess/Chevron drilling plans in the Bakken, and any shift in the parent’s capital program flows straight through to distribution growth.
Universal Health Realty Income Trust
Universal Health Realty Income Trust (NYSE:UHT) is the small-cap healthcare REIT most income investors overlook. Current yield sits at 7.31% on a $0.75 quarterly dividend and $3.00 annualized forward rate. The dividend track record runs from 1999 through the latest 2026-09-21 ex-date, with quarterly payments and steady small increments ($0.69 in 2020, $0.70 in 2021, $0.71 in 2022, $0.72 in 2023, $0.73 in 2024, $0.74 in 2025, $0.75 in 2026). Q2 2026 FFO was $0.90 per diluted share, which more than covers the quarterly payout, and interest expense is declining thanks to interest-rate swaps and a lower average borrowing rate. The credit facility was recently expanded to $475 million from $425 million. Growth: the $34 million Miller Medical Plaza in Palm Beach Gardens, roughly 75% pre-leased to a UHS subsidiary on a 10-year master flex lease, is scheduled to complete in Q4 2026.
Risk: Heavy concentration with UHS-affiliated tenants, plus healthcare-policy exposure (Medicaid funding, ACA subsidies). The $567 million market cap means liquidity is thin.
Campbell’s Company: A Deliberate Outlier
Include Campbell’s Company (NASDAQ:CPB) with an asterisk. The trailing yield still reads 7.29%, based on a trailing 12-month total of $1.56 per share, but that number is stale. On September 3, 2026, Campbell’s declared a $0.25 quarterly dividend, down from the prior $0.39, resetting the annualized forward amount to $1.00. At the current $21.18 share price, the forward yield sits well below the 6.9% threshold this list is built around. The dividend cut, per management, was designed to accelerate debt reduction against a stressed balance sheet showing $11.492 billion in total liabilities versus $3.852 billion in shareholders’ equity. Fiscal 2027 guidance calls for adjusted EPS of $1.65 to $1.80, a decline of 24% to 17% from fiscal 2026. Snacks organic sales fell 6% in the latest quarter with segment operating earnings down 34%. Shares are down 31.63% over one year.
Risk (and the reason it’s flagged): Cash generation remains real, with fiscal 2026 operating cash flow of $1.039 billion, and the reset dividend is covered by Q4 adjusted EPS of $0.39. But the trend is the story. Forward adjusted EPS is falling, leverage is high, and CEO Mick Beekhuizen said "Our performance is not where it needs to be". This is a coverage-repair story, and it fits the same pattern of warning signs we cataloged in a free guide to spotting dividend traps before the cut lands.
Bottom Line
Four of these names, WES, GLPI, HESM, and UHT, share the trait that makes an ultra-high yield defensible: a coverage metric (distributable cash flow, AFFO, or FFO) that runs above the payout and a balance sheet that funds growth without cutting the check to unitholders. Campbell’s belongs in the conversation as the counter-example: what happens when the yield gets to 6.9%-plus because the market has already priced in a reset. Income investors reading this list should treat the first four as coverage-first ideas and CPB as a reminder of why coverage came first in the first place.
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Joel South covers large-cap stocks, dividend investing, and major market trends, with a focus on earnings analysis, valuation, and turning complex data into actionable insights for investors.
He brings more than 15 years of experience as an investor and financial journalist, including 12 years at The Motley Fool, where he served as an investment analyst, Bureau Chief, and later led the Fool.com investing news desk. He has also co-hosted an investing podcast and appeared across TV and radio discussing market trends.
