5 High-Yield Dividend Stocks to Buy for October Income with Cash Flow to Spare

Five companies in five different industries pay these dividends: drugs, oil, pipelines, private credit and nicotine. Each one is supported by cash flow that covers the payout today and a track record that shows how management handles it. Forward yields run from 2.63% to 10.18%, and the most recent sign of confidence came days ago, when Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM | PM Price Prediction) raised its quarterly dividend to $1.60 from $1.47. That is an 8.8% increase. A look at each payout’s cash flow and balance sheet shows how they hold up.

AbbVie: Immunology Growth Is Paying for a Rising Dividend

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) pays an annualized forward dividend of $6.92. At the latest price of $262.90, that works out to a 2.63% forward yield. The next ex-dividend date is October 15, 2026, and payment follows on November 16, 2026. Its yield is the lowest on this list. AbbVie earns its place through dividend growth and coverage.

Dividend safety: AbbVie’s GAAP trailing EPS of $3.54 sits below the dividend because acquired research charges drag on reported earnings. That drives the trailing P/E to about 74x. Adjusted earnings give a better picture of cash. Management’s adjusted EPS guidance of $13.87 to $14.07 puts the forward dividend at about 50% of the center. The free cash flow yield of 3.83% is higher than the dividend yield. Net debt stands at 2.26x EBITDA, and interest coverage is 6.94x. The dividend history shows a higher quarterly payment every year since AbbVie began trading as a standalone company in 2013. The payment has gone from $0.40 in 2013 to $1.73 in 2026.

Bull case: AbbVie has replaced most of what it lost when Humira’s patent protection ended. Second-quarter results showed Skyrizi sales rising 24.4% to $5.505 billion and Rinvoq sales climbing 24.5% to $2.525 billion. Humira fell to just $756 million. Neuroscience grew 20.3% to $3.23 billion, and total revenue reached $16.99 billion, up 10.2% from a year earlier. The stock trades at about 16x forward earnings. The average analyst target is $278.86, with 8 strong buy and 16 buy ratings.

Risk: Acquisitions keep moving earnings guidance around. A pending $10.9 billion deal knocked $0.14 off the 2026 outlook. Meanwhile, Imbruvica sales fell 29.4%, so the immunology drugs have to keep growing quickly to make up the difference.

Chevron: Record Output and a 39-Year Raise Streak

Chevron (NYSE:CVX) pays $1.78 per quarter, an annualized $7.12. That is a 3.44% forward yield at $206.79. The yield has come down this year because the stock is up 39.38% year to date.

Dividend safety: Chevron generated $18.095 billion in second-quarter free cash flow. Based on the current share count, one quarter’s dividend costs about $3.49 billion. The dividend matches about 69% of trailing EPS of $10.38. The balance sheet is conservative. Net debt is 1.08x EBITDA, debt-to-equity is 0.25, and interest coverage is 13.7x. Chevron also paid down $8.41 billion of debt during the quarter. The company called its most recent increase its 39th consecutive annual raise, and the dividend history supports the recent run: $1.51 in 2023, $1.63 in 2024, $1.71 in 2025 and $1.78 in 2026.

Bull case: The Hess acquisition is paying off. Worldwide production rose 20% to 4,070 MBOED, and U.S. upstream output hit a record 2,077 MBOED. Chevron reached $3 billion in annual structural cost savings six months early and captured $1.5 billion in Hess synergies within a year of closing. It also signed a 20-year, 2.67 GW agreement to supply power to an AI data center in Texas. CEO Mike Wirth said the quarter delivered “record U.S. upstream production, record crude throughput in our U.S. refineries, and exceptional reliability across key assets.” The stock trades at about 15x forward earnings, and analysts’ average target is $224.62.

Risk: High oil prices drove much of the second-quarter result. Brent averaged $104 per barrel, compared with $68 a year earlier. In the first quarter, free cash flow was negative $1.549 billion, so cash generation can swing sharply from one quarter to the next.

MPLX: Ultra-High-Yield Distributions With 12.5% Raises Planned

MPLX (NYSE:MPLX) pays $1.0765 per unit each quarter, or $4.306 a year. At $56.39, that is a 7.64% forward yield, which puts MPLX firmly in ultra-high-yield territory. The units are down 4.42% over the past month. MPLX is a master limited partnership, so unitholders get a K-1 tax form instead of a 1099.

Dividend safety: Second-quarter distributable cash flow of $1.45 billion covered the distribution with room to spare. Management is aiming a 1.3 coverage ratio for 2026, 2027 and beyond. Leverage is 3.7x, below the partnership’s 4.0x target. The payout went from $0.85 in 2024 to $0.9565 and then $1.0765, which matches two straight raises of 12.5%. Management said on the call that it does not need acquisitions to hit its 2027 coverage goal.

Bull case: Natural gas volumes are driving growth. Operated gathering throughput rose 15% to 6,859 MMcf/d, and Natural Gas and NGL Services adjusted EBITDA increased 11% to $614 million. Harmon Creek III started operating in August. The Blackcomb pipeline should be in full service in the fourth quarter, and BANGL volumes are expected to reach 300,000 barrels per day by year-end. CEO Maryann Mannen said MPLX “anticipate[s] growing our distribution at this rate again in 2026 and in 2027.” Analysts’ average target is $62.85.

Risk: MPLX depends heavily on its parent refiner, which is its primary customer. It is also spending more: 2026 growth capital rose by $500 million to $2.9 billion, interest expense is going up, and crude pipeline throughput fell 5%.

Ares Capital: A 10% Yield Backed by $1.38 Per Share in Spillover Income

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) pays $0.48 per quarter, or $1.92 a year. At $18.86, that is an ultra-high 10.18% forward yield. The shares trade just below net asset value (NAV) per share of $19.35, at a price-to-book ratio of 0.99.

Dividend safety: Second-quarter core EPS of $0.47 came in a cent below the dividend. Management pointed to the longer record: “Over the last 12 months, core earnings have exceeded our regular dividend.” Ares Capital also has an estimated $988 million of spillover income, or $1.38 per share. That is taxable income it earned in the past and can still pay out, which gives it a buffer. Leverage is 1.12x debt-to-equity net of cash. Liquidity is about $6 billion, and no more unsecured notes mature in 2026. The company has paid a steady or higher regular dividend for 68 consecutive quarters, and the payout has been $0.48 every quarter since March 2023.

Bull case: Ares Capital is the largest publicly traded business development company (BDC). Its portfolio totals $29.35 billion across 619 companies, and 71% of it is floating rate. The weighted average yield on its debt investments is 10.3%. New senior loan spreads were 20 basis points wider than in late 2025. A new commercial paper program could cut funding costs by 50 to 100 basis points compared with secured borrowings. Analysts’ average target is $20.77.

Risk: Credit quality is slipping. Non-accrual loans rose from 2.1% to 2.4% at cost during the quarter. NAV per share fell to $19.35 from $19.94 at the end of 2025, and $183 million in unrealized losses cut GAAP EPS to $0.24.

Philip Morris International: A Fresh Raise Funded by Smoke-Free Growth

Philip Morris’s new annualized dividend of $6.40 works out to a 3.41% forward yield at $187.50. The stock went ex-dividend on October 2, 2026, so anyone buying now will first collect the higher payment in January.

Dividend safety: The new payout matches about 77% of the center of 2026 adjusted EPS guidance, which is $8.26 to $8.41. That level is steep for a typical company but manageable for a tobacco cash machine. Philip Morris expects about $13.5 billion of operating cash flow this year against $1.4 billion to $1.6 billion of capex, and it is buying back no shares. Net debt is $43.1 billion, or 2.35x adjusted EBITDA, and the company is aiming for around 2.0x by year-end. Quarterly payments have continued without a break since 2008, and the payment has risen from $1.17 in 2020 to $1.60 now.

Bull case: Second-quarter revenue grew 10.4% to $11.19 billion, and adjusted EPS of $2.20 beat the $2.05 estimate. International smoke-free revenue rose 14.2%, and VEEV vape shipments jumped 55.1%. The FDA authorized 20 ZYN variants as modified-risk tobacco products, which lets them be marketed as lower risk. Operating cash flow rose 61.0% to $5.49 billion. CEO Jacek Olczak said the company drove “net revenues to over $11 billion for the first time.” Analysts’ average target is $208.13.

Risk: More competition in U.S. oral nicotine is weighing on ZYN sales. Philip Morris also took a $511 million non-cash impairment, and Poland’s flavor ban hits its heated tobacco business.

Five Payouts Backed by Cash Flow

All five payouts are supported by a clear source of cash: AbbVie’s immunology drugs, Chevron’s balance sheet, MPLX’s target of 1.3x coverage, Ares Capital’s spillover income and Philip Morris’s growing smoke-free business. Together, they offer a mix of growing dividends and high current income from five different sectors. For the rest of the year, keep an eye on Ares Capital’s non-accruals and MPLX’s second-half project ramp.

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