Dividend Vision Lists
Best Safety-Adjusted Yield Stocks
Dividend-paying stocks ranked by Safety-Adjusted Yield — each company's dividend yield multiplied by its Distribution Safety Score — so the names offering the most durable income per unit of yield rise to the top, and fragile high-yielders fall away.
Updated September 2026 · 60 companies
DV Scorecard
Our proprietary snapshot of this list — averages and standouts, computed from the companies below. Not investment advice.
Headline yield tells you what a stock pays; it says nothing about whether the payment will last. Safety-Adjusted Yield fixes that by weighting each company's dividend yield by our Distribution Safety Score — so a durable 6% outranks a fragile 12%, and the number rewards income you can actually keep.
This page ranks the dividend-stock universe — including REITs, BDCs, and MLPs — by that single metric, filtered to names yielding at least 4% that also clear a solid Safety Score. It's the stock-side twin of our Safety-Adjusted Yield ETFs list: the same names everyone screens for yield, re-sorted by how durable that yield looks.
How this screen works
One proprietary metric does the ranking: Safety-Adjusted Yield.
- Metric: Safety-Adjusted Yield = dividend yield × (Distribution Safety Score ÷ 100). An 8% yield at a score of 80 scores 6.4%; a 14% yield at a score of 30 scores just 4.2%.
- Universe: dividend-paying stocks, including REITs, BDCs, and MLPs.
- Yield floor: at least 4%, to keep the list income-focused.
- Safety floor: a Distribution Safety Score of 60+, so the ranking showcases durable income rather than gambles.
- Rank: highest Safety-Adjusted Yield first.
Best Safety-Adjusted Yield Stocks
Ranked live from our data pipeline on every build — click any column header to re-sort, or open a ticker for the full analysis. We never hard-code the figures.
| Ticker | Company | Safety-Adj. Yield | Yield | Distribution Safety Score™ ⓘ | Payout ratio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PNNT | PennantPark Investment Corporation | 15.4% | 25.67% | 60 | 52% |
| ETD | Ethan Allen Interiors Inc | 14.3% | 21.39% | 67 | 113% |
| DX | Dynex Capital, Inc | 14.2% | 15.81% | 90 | 60% |
| UAN | CVR Partners | 12.8% | 18.59% | 69 | 95% |
| DMLP | Dorchester Minerals | 12.7% | 17.43% | 73 | 2% |
| AGNC | AGNC Investment Corp | 12.4% | 13.52% | 92 | 34% |
| SAR | Saratoga Investment Corp. | 11.6% | 16.88% | 69 | 46% |
| BCSF | Bain Capital Specialty Finance Inc | 10.9% | 14.15% | 77 | 80% |
| BXSL | Blackstone Secured Lending Fund | 10.9% | 12.48% | 87 | 98% |
| OTF | Blue Owl Technology Finance Corp. | 10.5% | 14.06% | 75 | 66% |
| KRP | Kimbell Royalty Partners | 10.5% | 12.63% | 83 | 2% |
| NMFC | New Mountain Finance | 10.5% | 17.14% | 61 | 3% |
| REFI | Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance Inc | 10.4% | 17.31% | 60 | 125% |
| TRTX | TPG RE Finance Trust, Inc. | 10.3% | 12.17% | 85 | 105% |
| ADAMM | New York Mortgage Trust, Inc. | 10.3% | 10.37% | 99 | 8% |
| NLY | Annaly Capital Management, Inc. | 10.3% | 13.15% | 78 | 94% |
| IIPR | Innovative Industrial Properties, Inc. | 10.2% | 13.38% | 76 | 2% |
| PSBD | Palmer Square Capital BDC Inc. | 10.0% | 15.64% | 64 | 135% |
| TRIN | Trinity Capital Inc | 9.9% | 11.12% | 89 | 33% |
| EFC | Ellington Financial Inc | 9.7% | 11.58% | 84 | 22% |
| STWD | Starwood Property Trust | 9.7% | 11.94% | 81 | 125% |
| MFIC | MidCap Financial Investment Corporation | 9.6% | 14.37% | 67 | 85% |
| IRS | IRSA Inversiones Y Representaciones | 9.6% | 10.66% | 90 | 1% |
| BLW | BlackRock Limited Duration Income Trust | 9.6% | 10.77% | 89 | 74% |
| PFLT | PennantPark Floating Rate Capital Ltd. | 9.5% | 13.41% | 71 | 31% |
| OCSL | Oaktree Specialty Lending Corporation | 9.5% | 12.19% | 78 | 94% |
| ADAMZ | Adamas Trust, Inc | 9.5% | 9.65% | 98 | 5% |
| BIT | Blackrock Multi Sector Income Closed Fund | 9.4% | 12.51% | 75 | 138% |
| NLCP | NewLake Capital Partners, Inc. | 9.3% | 10.86% | 86 | 145% |
| ARI | Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc. | 9.3% | 14.53% | 64 | 9% |
| CHCT | Community Healthcare Trust Inc | 9.2% | 12.79% | 72 | 12% |
| CAPL | CrossAmerica Partners | 9.2% | 9.19% | 100 | 2% |
| ARCC | Ares Capital Corporation | 8.9% | 9.60% | 93 | 99% |
| NBXG | Neuberger Berman Next Generation Connectivity Fund Inc | 8.7% | 9.36% | 93 | 31% |
| MZDAY | Mazda Motor Corp ADR | 8.7% | 9.23% | 94 | 2% |
| QGEN | Qiagen N.V. | 8.6% | 10.54% | 82 | 2% |
| NREF | Nexpoint Real Estate Finance Inc | 8.6% | 11.33% | 76 | 90% |
| RITM | Rithm Capital Corp. | 8.5% | 9.95% | 85 | 42% |
| MARUY | Marubeni Corp ADR | 8.4% | 12.79% | 66 | 23% |
| CRWS | Crown Crafts Inc | 8.3% | 11.55% | 72 | 2% |
| WU | The Western Union Company | 8.3% | 12.97% | 64 | 64% |
| CSWC | Capital Southwest Corporation | 8.3% | 9.43% | 88 | 38% |
| FGNXP | Fundamental Global Inc. | 8.3% | 8.34% | 99 | 61% |
| FLNG | FLEX LNG Ltd. | 8.3% | 9.60% | 86 | 2% |
| ARLP | Alliance Resource Partners | 8.2% | 9.06% | 91 | 95% |
| OMAB | Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Norte SAB de CV | 8.2% | 11.24% | 73 | 2% |
| VLT | Invesco High Income Trust II | 8.2% | 11.19% | 73 | 105% |
| DKL | Delek Logistics Partners | 8.2% | 8.15% | 100 | 103% |
| FBRT | Franklin BSP Realty Trust Inc | 8.1% | 13.01% | 62 | 2% |
| MBINM | Merchants Bancorp | 8.0% | 8.04% | 99 | 0% |
| ADAMN | Adamas Trust, Inc | 8.0% | 7.95% | 100 | 6% |
| HTGC | Hercules Capital, Inc. | 7.9% | 10.61% | 74 | 93% |
| TU | TELUS Corporation | 7.8% | 12.40% | 63 | 2% |
| SLRC | SLR Investment | 7.8% | 12.98% | 60 | 99% |
| EIIA | Eagle Point Institutional Income Fund | 7.7% | 8.04% | 96 | 0% |
| RMR | RMR Group Inc | 7.7% | 9.28% | 83 | 2% |
| USAC | USA Compression Partners LP | 7.7% | 7.70% | 100 | 2% |
| SYF-PB | Synchrony Financial | 7.7% | 7.91% | 97 | 0% |
| PDPA | Pearl Diver Credit Company Inc. | 7.6% | 7.96% | 96 | 0% |
| GNL-PE | Global Net Lease Inc. | 7.6% | 7.94% | 96 | 0% |
Screened and ranked from our own data. Not investment advice.
Frequently asked questions
What is Safety-Adjusted Yield?
It's a stock's dividend yield multiplied by its Distribution Safety Score (out of 100). A durable 8% yield (score 80) scores 6.4%; a shaky 14% yield (score 30) scores just 4.2%. It rewards income that looks likely to last. 60 companies make this list.
Why not just rank by yield?
Because the highest yields are often the least durable — the market prices in the risk of a cut. Safety-Adjusted Yield discounts fragile payouts, so the ranking surfaces the best income you can realistically keep, not just the biggest headline number.
Why do REITs, BDCs, and MLPs dominate the top?
Those structures are required or designed to pay out most of their cash flow, so they naturally clear the 4% yield floor more often than ordinary C-corporations. The Safety Score accounts for structure, so a well-covered REIT payout and a well-covered utility dividend compete on equal footing.
Is this the same formula as the ETF version?
Yes — identical. Safety-Adjusted Yield is always yield × Safety Score ÷ 100, whether the ticker is a fund or a company. Our Safety-Adjusted Yield ETFs list applies it to the income-ETF universe; this page applies it to stocks.
How often is it updated?
Yields and Safety Scores refresh on every build, so the Safety-Adjusted Yield ranking re-computes automatically.
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