The Best Dividend Stocks for Retirement Portfolios in 2026

15 hours ago 3

William Temple

Mon, December 15, 2025 astatine 6:42 AM CST 6 min read

Financial Dividend Concept with Percentage Cube and Coins connected reddish Background

Procter & Gamble leads with a 68-year dividend maturation streak and 3.31% output backed by 26% operating currency travel surge.
Johnson & Johnson raised its dividend 4.8% and grew Q3 gross 6.8% to $24B with 91% nett income jump.
AbbVie delivers 2.93% output with 53-year dividend streak contempt accounting distortions from Allergan acquisition debt.
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Retirement portfolios request increasing income that outpaces ostentation and information that lets you slumber astatine night. The champion status dividend stocks physique reliable income streams that compound for decades.

These companies rise dividends done recessions, marketplace crashes, and concern disruptions. We ranked them by dividend maturation consistency, payout sustainability, and concern resilience heading into 2026.

AbbVie (NASDAQ:ABBV) delivers a 2.93% output with a 53-year dividend maturation streak. The institution announced a 5.5% dividend summation contempt a trailing P/E of 169x and antagonistic publication worth of $1.50 per share.

The Allergan acquisition loaded the equilibrium expanse with indebtedness and created accounting distortions that marque GAAP net meaningless. What matters is currency generation, and AbbVie's 35.5% operating borderline tells that story. The immunology portfolio grew 11.9% successful Q3 2025, with gross hitting $15.78 billion, up 9.1% twelvemonth implicit year.

The guardant P/E of 16x reflects Wall Street's anticipation that net volition normalize. Management raised full-year EPS guidance to $10.61-$10.65, and operating currency travel comfortably covers the $6.56 yearly dividend. Retail dividend investors support bullish sentiment astatine 72 passim December 2025.

AbbVie ranks 5th due to the fact that the dividend is harmless but requires knowing the concern beneath distorted accounting.

Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) offers a 3.31% output backed by a 42-year dividend maturation streak and sustainable 58% payout ratio. The institution paid $3.96 per stock successful dividends portion generating $6.88 successful earnings, leaving plentifulness of cushion.

The interest is cyclicality. Q3 2025 gross fell 5.1% to $83.3 billion, and nett income dropped 8.3% to $7.55 cardinal arsenic commodity prices pressured results. Energy stocks commercialized connected lipid and state prices arsenic overmuch arsenic operational execution.

The equilibrium expanse is strong. Book worth sits astatine $61.79 per stock with $260 cardinal successful equity. Recent insider enactment shows executives accepting ample banal grants successful November 2025 and retaining 80% to 85% aft tax-related sales.