The S&P 500 index offers a paltry 1.1% dividend yield. By that standard, even consumer products giant Procter & Gamble‘s (NYSE: PG) 2.8% yield looks lofty. Here’s why dividend lovers may want to consider P&G, and the even higher yields on offer from real estate-focused Realty Income (NYSE: O) and pharmaceutical giant Pfizer (NYSE: PFE), as January comes to an end.
Realty Income’s dividend yield is 5.3%. The monthly pay dividend has been increased annually for 30 years. The dividend is backed by the real estate investment trust’s (REIT’s) investment-grade-rated balance sheet and a generally conservative management approach.
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If you’re a conservative dividend investor, Realty Income could be a cornerstone investment. There’s just one problem. It is so large, with a portfolio of over 15,500 properties, that it is a slow-moving industry giant. To put a figure on that, the dividend has grown at a compound annual rate of 4.2% over the past three decades. That keeps pace with, or slightly exceeds, inflation, but slow and steady is the name of the game with Realty Income.
Procter & Gamble is one of the world’s largest consumer staples companies. It’s largely focused on the higher end of the markets it serves. That’s a problem today because economic concerns are prompting consumers to tighten their belts. Notably, the second quarter of its fiscal 2026 was a tough one for the company, with a 1% volume decline offset by 1% of price increases. That led to flat organic sales, which isn’t a great result.
However, it’s better than the company’s consumer staples peers that are experiencing organic sales declines. Still, P&G’s stock has fallen around 15% from its 52-week high. That could be setting up a buying opportunity for long-term investors in what is a highly reliable dividend stock. In fact, P&G is a member of the elite group of companies known as Dividend Kings. It has increased its dividend annually for over six decades.
That stock isn’t cheap, per se, but the price-to-earnings ratio has dipped below its five-year average, suggesting at least a fair price for this reliable 2.8% yielding dividend payer.
Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer’s dividend yield is 6.7%, the highest of this trio. That’s because investors are worried about the company’s upcoming patent expirations and its lack of success in finding new blockbuster drugs. Making matters worse, the company had a high-profile failure in the GLP-1 weight loss drug space. Investors are very downbeat on Pfizer today.
