April's Top Dividend Stocks

It seemed fit to start April by looking at the top dividend stocks around the world, seeing as these are all potential targets for your passive income portfolio in what could be the difference between an early & enjoyable retirement and a very late retirement where you depend on your former employer or the government to determine the level of your life. So today we resume our monthly tradition of looking at the top 100 dividend stocks in the broad based S&P500 index.

Over the past few months, we have looked at quite a few criteria that have helped us find the best dividend stocks including current yield, dividend growth and also companies that produce solid enough earnings to keep up the dividend payments. We summed it all up when we discussed the 20 things that we look for in dividend stocks. FTR remains once more at the top of our list although it was a tough month for the stock as you can see in the chart below. That means the dividend yield is even higher this time around than last month but when you look at the payout ratio, it continues to look very unlikely that FTR will be able to keep up these high payments.

Source: FavStocks

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