Even because the market trades close to document highs, dividend payers – significantly those who have lifted their funds – can bolster portfolios in rocky occasions. The S & P 500 touched a contemporary all-time excessive on Friday, and it has surged 9.6% in 2025. The broad market index is up greater than 30% from its April low, again when the Trump administration introduced a slate of tariffs that rattled traders. Dividend-paying stocks can offer traders some measure of security from these jolts, although. “In periods of elevated risks and valuations, dividends become [a] more important part of investors’ total returns, dampening volatility and providing some support to stock prices,” wrote Morgan Stanley strategist Todd Castagno in a Thursday report. Higher dividend yields which are sturdy are additionally engaging throughout occasions of slowing development and falling rates of interest, he added. Not all dividend payers are constructed equally, although. Yields which are unusually excessive may suggest that the inventory value is on a downward trajectory, and dividends which are unsustainable may finally be slashed if an organization falls on exhausting occasions. Castagno’s staff screened by means of the Russell 1000 for firms with a dividend yield of a minimum of 0.25% and a quarter-over-quarter dividend hike of a minimum of 15% during the last 12 months. Here are a couple of of the names that turned up. Software big Oracle made the lower on Morgan Stanley’s listing. The inventory gives a modest present dividend yield of 0.8%, however shares are up about 49% in 2025. In June, the corporate posted fiscal fourth-quarter outcomes that surpassed expectations. Forward steerage was rosy, with CEO Safra Catz anticipating greater than $67 billion in fiscal 2026 income, in contrast with the LSEG consensus of $65.18 billion. Mizuho analyst Siti Panigrahi lifted the agency’s value goal on Oracle to $300 from $245 on Friday, pointing to the corporate’s emergence as a structural synthetic intelligence winner. “With its end-to-end AI stack, spanning vertical and horizontal applications, mission-critical database technology, and infrastructure for AI training/inference, Oracle is well positioned to capture a disproportionate share of AI-driven enterprise spend over time,” Panigrahi wrote. The analyst famous that AI momentum is “paving the path to the trillion-dollar club.” Analysts just like the inventory, with 29 out of 42 score it a purchase or robust purchase, per LSEG, however the common value goal of $247.23 implies Oracle shares’ upside may very well be restricted. American Homes 4 Rent additionally turned up on the agency’s display. Shares of the true property funding belief, which focuses on single-family leases, are down almost 8% in 2025. The inventory has a present dividend yield of three.5%. Mizuho analyst Haendel St. Juste caught together with his outperform score final week, however trimmed again his value goal to $36 per share from $38. “All-around execution and higher development yields drive FY25 core portfolio and [funds from operations] guidance raise,” he wrote. Funds from operations , or FFO, displays how a lot money circulate a REIT generates from its enterprise. American Homes lately lifted its FFO steerage for 2025 to a midpoint of $1.86 per share, up three cents – thanks partly to better-than-anticipated growth yields, St. Juste wrote. Thirteen out of 24 analysts protecting the inventory charge it a purchase or robust purchase, and consensus value targets name for 18% upside, per LSEG. Morgan Stanley additionally highlighted wi-fi communications big T-Mobile . The inventory is up 16% in 2025 and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. The agency can also be bullish on T-Mobile, with Morgan Stanley analyst Benjamin Swinburne score the inventory obese. He did, nonetheless, trim his value goal to $265 from $280 final month. The transfer was “mainly to address the overhang of secondary stock sales.” In all, 18 out of 31 analysts protecting T-Mobile see it as a purchase or robust purchase, however consensus value targets recommend simply 5% upside from present ranges, per LSEG. — CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed reporting.