7 stocks with dividend yields above 6%
A dividend yield above 6% used to be synonymous with an extraordinary opportunity. Today, that is no longer so clear-cut. The ten-year US Treasury yields 4.8% and the equity risk premium has shrunk to roughly one percentage point. For the seven stocks that currently pass the six-percent yield screen, moreover, the same number conceals completely different situations. Sometimes it is a price decline, sometimes a frozen payout, an unfavorable tax regime, or even a one-time dividend that will disappear from the statistics in a few months. Where is income and where is a trap?
Key points
7 stocks offer a dividend yield above 6%. But beneath almost the same number lie seven very different investment stories.
Is a 6% dividend still sufficient reward for risk? US bonds today offer almost 5% without the need to take equity risk.
A high yield can arise in several completely different ways. And its origin often matters more than the yield percentage itself.
Dividend metrics can hide fundamental problems. For more than half of these seven, standard metrics fail to capture the real situation correctly.
Where is it still attractive income and where already a dividend trap? The answer lies mainly in cash flow, payout trajectory, and risks that the yield alone does not show.
A dividend yield above 6% used to be synonymous with an extraordinary opportunity in the US market. Today, that is no longer so clear-cut. The ten-year US government bond traded around 4.8% in early September 2026, the highest in three years, the thirty-year paper is approaching 5.25%, and the market even prices a non-negligible probability that the Fed will raise rates at its September meeting. The premium an investor receives for a six-percent dividend over the risk-free yield has thus shrunk to roughly one percentage point. And for this modest cushion, they take on full equity risk.
That is why, today, with high yields it is more important than ever to distinguish where that number actually comes from. A screener displays dividend yield as a simple ratio of dividend paid to share price, but behind the same number there can be completely different situations. Sometimes it is a stable payout and a fallen share price. Other times a one-time special dividend that will disappear from the twelve-month statistic in a few months. And occasionally a dividend that the company has not raised for several years because it simply cannot afford to.
The following seven stocks have only one thing in common: according to commonly available data, they exceed the 6% threshold. In everything else they differ, and it is precisely in those differences that the investor finds the answer to the question of whether it is income or a trap.