Five Stocks With High Dividend Yields

High yield stocks provide a different environment from the world of growth stocks. In an investment environment where high quality bonds are yielding 1 percent to 3 percent, high-quality stocks are available with dividend yields double those rates. There are even some high-yield stocks with dividend rates of 7 to 10 percent or higher. Here is a list of five high dividend yield stocks which have features that set them apart from the rest of the high-yield crowd: CenturyLink (NYSE: CTL) is a diversified telecommunications company offering services primarily in rural America. As of mid-June, CTL is the highest yielding stock on the Standard & Poor's list of Dividend Achievers. To make the list a company must have at least a 25 year record of annual dividend increases. At the time this article was written, CenturyLink had a market cap of $24 billion and dividend yield of 7.20 percent. Ship Finance International (NYSE: SFL): Before the financial crisis, which hit the shipping industry as hard as any sector, Ship Finance had steadily increased the dividend, reaching a quarterly payout of 60 cents per share. For the fourth quarter of 2008, the dividend was cut in half to 30 cents. In the first quarter of 2010, SFL started increasing the payout again and kept up the increases through Q1 2011, five straight quarterly increases. n. Ship Finance has a current market cap of $1.4 billion and the dividend yield is 9.20 percent. Terra Nitrogen Company, L.P. (NYSE: TNH) is a limited partnership which owns a single fertilizer plant in Verdigris, Oklahoma. The general partner is fertilizer company CF Industries (NYSE: CF). The partnership pays out 99 percent of the free cash flow generated by the fertilizer plant as distributions. The payout from TNH fluctuates with the prices of the nitrogen based fertilizers sold. When prices are high, TNH can pay a very high dividend. In 2008 the stock paid over $15 per share in distributions. The $6.20 paid in the first two quarters of 2011 exceeds the payout for full year 2010. Annualizing the first two dividends gives TNH a yield of 9.25 percent. Inergy L. P. (NYSE: NRGY) is a nationwide seller of retail propane and provider of natural gas midstream services. Through the second quarter of 2010, Inergy had increased the quarterly distribution every quarter for 35 straight quarters. For the last three quarters the dividend has remained level. Management expects to resume dividend payment growth soon, in the meantime, investors earn a yield of 8.20 percent. NRGY has a market cap of $3.9 billion. Annaly Capital Management (NYSE: NLY) is a mortgage REIT. Annaly owns a portfolio of mortgage backed securities. The company holds mainly AAA rated MBS and earns money by borrowing at a lower rate compared with the rate earned from mortgage securities. The dividend rate has been declining slowly over the last few quarters, but NLY is still yielding 13.50 percent. The market cap is $14.9 billion. So if collecting so dividends at a high yield rate sounds good for your stock portfolio, take a closer look at these stocks. Remember to do your own research before investing.    ... Read more