Investors have many strategies when looking at stocks and options, including sector rotation, earnings strength and upcoming catalysts. Value investors often look for strong earnings strength from dividend stocks.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average includes many dividend-paying stocks, including many blue-chip companies that have consistently raised their dividends.
Here's a look at the top-yielding Dow Jones stocks heading into 2025.
What Happened: The Dow Jones Industrial Average hit a record high of 45,000 in December as one of many stock indexes to post gains after the 2025 presidential election.
As of Dec. 27, 18 of the Dow Jones Industrial Average stocks have gained year-to-date, while 12 components are trading lower compared to the start of 2024.
While investors can bet on the entire Dow Jones Industrial Average through ETFs like the Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (NYSE:DIA), investors can also pick individual stocks from the 30 components of the index. Through Dec. 27, the ETF is up 13.4% year-to-date.
One popular strategy is to look at the "Dogs of the Dow," which often coincides with the beaten-down stocks of the index that also offer high dividend payouts.
Here are the highest-yielding Dow Jones Industrial Average stocks to start 2025, with the dividend yield and stock performance in 2024 listed below.
Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ): 6.79% yield, +5.9% in 2024
Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX): 4.53% yield, -3.5% in 2024
Amgen Inc (NASDAQ:AMGN): 3.62% yield, -8.8% in 2024
Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ): 3.42% yield, -7.5% in 2024
Merck & Company (NYSE:MRK): 3.25% yield, -8.5% in 2024
Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO): 3.11% yield, +6.0% in 2025
International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM): 3% yield, +36.2% in 2024
Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO): 2.68% yield, +18.0% in 2024
McDonald's Corporation (NYSE:MCD): 2.41% yield, -1.0% in 2024
Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG): 2.37% yield, +15.7% in 2024
Seven of the top 10 highest-yielding stocks heading into 2025 also appeared on the top 10 list to start 2024 with Merck, McDonald's and Procter & Gamble the newcomers to the Dogs of the Dow list for the new year.
Component Changes Impact Yields: It's worth noting that dividend investors will have to look elsewhere to chase some of the higher-yielding stocks they have become accustomed to.
Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA), which yields 10.40% and Dow Inc (NYSE:DOW), which yields 6.99% have been replaced and removed from the index.
New 2024 Dow Jones Industrial Average components don't come with high dividend yields. Sherwin-Williams Co (NYSE:SHW) has a dividend yield of 0.80%, NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) has a dividend yield of 0.03% and Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) does not pay a dividend.
This means that the yield on ETFs that track the Dow Jones Industrial Average will be lower, with the goal of potentially stronger returns by replacing the underperforming stocks with stocks that have performed better over the past five years.
The latest 30 Dow Jones Industrial Average components see 28 stocks paying out dividends with Amazon and Boeing Co (NYSE:BA) the exceptions.
The average dividend yield of the Dow Jones Industrial Average is around 2%.