4 Dividend Stocks Yielding at Least 4.35% Across 4 Different Businesses

Retirement income needs two things at once: a yield big enough to matter and a business strong enough to keep paying it through a bad year. These four blue chips draw their cash from four different places: fund fees, insurance capital, household staples, and snacks and drinks. Each one has raised its regular quarterly dividend every year in its recent payment records, and the lowest yield in the group is still 4.35%.

T. Rowe Price: A 4.97% Yield With Cash to Spare

T. Rowe Price (NASDAQ:TROW | TROW Price Prediction) yields 4.97% at a share price of $105.12. For an asset manager, the safety test is whether fee revenue covers the dividend with room to spare. Trailing dividends of $5.14 per share against diluted EPS of $9.96 work out to a payout of about 51.6% of earnings. The balance sheet adds a second layer of protection: $3.77 billion in cash and equivalents and $11.37 billion of shareholders’ equity. The CFO told analysts the firm is sitting on “just about $4.9 billion in cash and discretionary investments.”

Dividend growth has been steady: the regular quarterly dividend went up every year in the records, from $0.34 in 2012 to $1.30 today, and special payouts in 2012, 2015 and 2021 came on top of that. The annualized forward dividend is $5.20.

Wall Street remains skeptical. Not one analyst rates the stock a buy: there are 9 holds, 1 sell, and 3 strong sells. The concern is client money leaving. Third-quarter net client outflows reached $28.3 billion, and the effective fee rate fell to 37.8 bps from 39.1 bps. Earnings held up anyway. Adjusted EPS of $2.86 beat the $2.65 estimate, and operating income rose 10.21%. Management also lists the dividend ahead of buybacks: “support the dividend, and then return excess capital to stockholders over time.” Buybacks paused in the third quarter while the dividend kept coming. The analyst debate is about growth, and the payout itself looks well covered.

Bull case: At a trailing and forward P/E of about 10, the market is paying very little for a firm building new channels. ETF net inflows hit $3.8 billion in the quarter and $11 billion year to date. The planned FM Investments deal adds roughly $20 billion in fixed income assets.

Risk: Equity outflows reached $25.6 billion last quarter. Because fees move with assets and the stock has a beta of 1.471, a prolonged equity selloff would pressure revenue and slow dividend growth.

Prudential Financial: AA Capital Behind a 4.75% Payout

Prudential Financial (NYSE:PRU) yields 4.75% at $116.71. With a life insurance company, safety comes down to capital and liquidity. Cash and liquid assets were $4.2 billion, well above the company’s $3 billion minimum, and management says its capital ratios support AA financial strength ratings. Trailing dividends of $5.50 against EPS of $11.04 put the payout at about 49.8%.

The quarterly dividend rose every year from $0.40 in 2013 to $1.40 now, for a forward rate of $5.60. Older records show the annual payout falling from $1.15 in 2007 to $0.58 in 2008, a reminder that an insurer’s dividend ultimately depends on its capital.

Analysts are conservative here too, with 14 holds, 3 sells, 1 strong sell, and no buys. The results argue the other side. Second-quarter adjusted EPS of $4.08 beat the $3.52 estimate, and the company returned $743M to shareholders in that quarter alone. The CFO said Prudential does “not anticipate any material impact to capital, ESR, or cash flows over 2026 and 2027 from the sale suspension.” That is the line income investors should care about most.

Bull case: Shares trade at about 10 times earnings and carry a price-to-book ratio of about 1.265. PGIM’s pretax adjusted operating income rose 28% to $294M, and cost actions are targeting about $750 million in pretax run-rate benefits by year-end 2028.

Risk: The voluntary sales suspension at Prudential of Japan is expected to reduce full-year pretax adjusted operating income by about $525 million to $575 million, and more misconduct could still come to light.

Kimberly-Clark: Decades of Raises Backed by Everyday Essentials

Kimberly-Clark (NASDAQ:KMB) yields 4.66% at $108.86. For a staples company, cash flow is the right lens, because GAAP earnings are carrying deal and restructuring noise. Trailing dividends of $5.08 slightly exceed diluted EPS of $5.04, a payout of about 100.8%. Adjusted EPS tells a calmer story, at $1.97 in the first quarter and $2.12 in the second. The forward P/E of about 15, down from a trailing 22, suggests the market expects earnings to recover. First-quarter operating cash flow of $745M minus $424M in capex left about $321M of free cash flow. Its balance sheet is lean, with just $1.874B of equity against $18.554B in assets.

Records going back to 1999 show the quarterly dividend rising every year, from $0.26 to $1.28, with no annual decrease. The forward rate is $5.12.

Bull case: Diapers, tissue, and toilet paper sell in any economy. Kimberly-Clark’s brands hold No. 1 or No. 2 positions in roughly 70 countries, adjusted gross margin expanded 190 bps to 38.8%, and a beta of 0.275 makes this the steadiest stock in the group.

Risk: The pending Kenvue (NYSE:KVUE) acquisition, expected to close by the end of 2026, adds integration risk as the payout already sits above GAAP earnings.

PepsiCo: A Discounted Staples Giant With a Rising Dividend

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) yields 4.35% at $132.95. Trailing dividends of $5.80 against EPS of $7.95 put the payout at about 73%. The company is guiding to free cash flow conversion of at least 80% and plans $7.9B in dividends this year. Its free cash flow yield of 4.24% sits close to the dividend yield, so the trailing buffer is thin. Leverage looks reasonable, with net debt at 2.60 times EBITDA, interest coverage of 10.26, and $10.675B in cash.

The quarterly dividend rose in every payment cycle from $0.9275 in 2018 to $1.48 now, and it was just $0.13 in the 1999 records. The forward rate is $5.92.

Bull case: Shares are down 7.85% over the past year, while third-quarter revenue grew 5.59% to $25.274B, beating the $24.97B estimate. International markets are doing the heavy lifting, with LatAm Foods up 14% and Asia Pacific Foods up 10%.

Risk: Core operating profit at North American snacks fell 12% in the third quarter, and core EPS growth guidance was cut to +2.5% to +3.5%. That limits how quickly the dividend can grow.

Building an Income Core From Four Cash Engines

T. Rowe Price and Prudential pay out roughly half their earnings and back those dividends with deep liquidity, even though Wall Street doesn’t recommend either. Kimberly-Clark and PepsiCo bring consumer demand that holds up in recessions and dividend records dating back to 1999 (if that kind of multi-decade raise streak is what you’re building around, we ranked ten of the longest by valuation in a free Dividend Kings report). Together, the four offer high yields from four separate cash sources, with dividends that rise each year.

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