Slideshow: Top 10 Dividend Stocks

Despite the recent rise in bonds yields, yields on government debt remain extremely low. Since many non-government debt securities are priced at or trade at a spread to these government securities, then the yields on these riskier investments have also remained low.

Dividend stocks have been a way for investors to take advantage of the recovery in equity markets since the financial crisis lows of March of 2009 as both a play on equity gains and as a way to capture yield. However, not every dividend stock is a good pick and investors need to be careful which ones they pick.

Why? Well, the yield on a stock's dividend has two components: the cash dividend divided by the price. Thus, if the price keeps going down and the dividend stays flat or just falls less than the price, then the yield will go up. Therefore, stock selection is key.

Dividend Stock Screen

Benzinga ran a stock screen that looked for stocks with above-average dividend yields that have had strong stock performance. Specifically, the screen looked for:

• A dividend yield greater than 3 percent (the market average is 2.83 percent).


• Stocks that have a positive price return both over the last 4- and 52-weeks.


• A stock price above $5 to avoid penny stocks which carry their own risks.


• Stocks with positive dividend growth in each of the past 5-years listed as the average annual growth from each of the past 5 years.


• Companies located in the U.S., as currency risk has become a large problem for foreign problems due to the recent strength of the dollar. Currency losses could derail dividends.


• Stocks with a market capitalization greater than $2 billion, looking for at least mid-cap companies.

Based on this screen, here are the ten best dividend stocks.