There are two ways to make money when investing in a stock. One is by capital appreciation, the other is by collecting dividend income. Of course, not all stocks pay regular dividends. Some companies choose to reinvest earnings into marketing, product development or expansion. Many companies, however, make a point to pay dividends on a regular and consistent basis. There are even classes of companies — such as real estate investment trusts, or REITs, business development companies, called BDCs, and master limited partnerships, known as MLPs — that are required by law to pay the majority of taxable income back to investors through regular dividends.
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Most dividend-paying stocks distribute income quarterly, but a relatively small number of companies pay out monthly. Investors who depend on investment income or have income as an important investment objective appreciate the benefits of monthly dividends.
One of those benefits is hedging against sticky inflation like the U.S. economy has experienced over the last several years. Inflation is certainly down from its post-COVID highs, but it’s still higher than consumers and central bankers would like to see it. In times like these, with prices rising steadily and every month representing a loss of purchasing power, investors who are paid monthly have an advantage over investors who have to wait three months between dividend payments.
Another benefit of monthly dividend stocks boils down to simple convenience. Most people organize their financial lives according to a monthly schedule. Because people generally set their budget monthly and pay their bills monthly, monthly dividends just work better with the financial calendar they’re used to.
The last benefit has to do with being able to take advantage of opportunities as they come up. In practical terms, you can’t put a dividend to work until it’s been paid and credited to your account. Once it is paid, however, it can be used to offset current expenses, reinvested back into the market or put in savings to generate more interest or dividends.
If you are one of the many investors intrigued by the idea of monthly dividends, the question becomes: Which ones do you buy? There are somewhere between 80 and 100 stocks that distribute income monthly; researching all of them would be a time-consuming and tedious project. Instead, start by considering these seven names. They each pay a dependable monthly income and, under the right circumstances, they have the potential to appreciate as well.
Here are seven of the best monthly dividend stocks to buy now:
| Stock | Market Capitalization | Forward Dividend Yield as of Aug. 26 |
| Permian Basin Royalty Trust (ticker: PBT) | $772 million | 1.2% |
| Main Street Capital Corp. (MAIN) | $5.8 billion | 6.6% |
| Phillips Edison & Co. Inc (PECO) | $4.8 billion | 3.6% |
| Gladstone Investment Corp. (GAIN) | $537 million | 6.8% |
| LTC Properties Inc. (LTC) | $1.7 billion | 6.3% |
| Realty Income Corp. (O) | $54 billion | 5.6% |
| SL Green Realty Corp. (SLG) | $4.3 billion | 5.6% |
Permian Basin Royalty Trust (PBT)
The Permian Basin geological formation in Texas and New Mexico contains an estimated 74 billion barrels of crude oil reserves. PBT is a royalty trust that owns the royalty income interest in several productive oil fields that have many remaining years’ worth of proven reserves.
Like most royalty trusts, the company’s primary objective is to collect and distribute the income its claims produce. The trustees have elected to pay income monthly and have paid dividends consistently since the company was founded in 1980.
Investors should consider PBT an income vehicle first and foremost, but capital appreciation can happen as new wells are brought online or the price of oil increases.
PBT has a market cap of $772 million, which reflects the market value of the mineral rights it holds. The dividend will fluctuate depending on oil prices and the volume of oil sold into the market. The stock’s current yield is 1.2%.
Main Street Capital Corp. (MAIN)
A business development company, or BDC, is a specialty finance company — akin to a closed-end investment company — that earns money by making loans to and taking preferred equity stakes in private and thinly traded public companies. MAIN is a $5.8 billion BDC that has been a dependable monthly dividend stock since its initial public offering (IPO) in 2007.
MAIN serves middle-market companies that need to borrow money to fund expansion plans, restructuring and acquisitions. Its focus is on private and small public companies with between $10 million and $150 million in annual revenue. The company’s loan portfolio is well diversified geographically and by industry.
In addition to its regular monthly dividends, MAIN will pay special or supplemental dividends when it makes windfall profits. The stock’s current yield is 6.6%.
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Phillips Edison & Co. Inc (PECO)
The name of this company may suggest that it is a public utility. In reality, PECO is a retail REIT that’s been investing in national chain grocery stores for more than 30 years.
PECO owns close to 300 shopping centers in 31 states. All of its properties are anchored by a prominent national grocery store like Kroger, Publix or Ahold, which owns the Stop & Shop, Giant and Hannaford brands.
PECO is facing stiff competition from big-box and online grocery stores like Walmart Inc. (WMT) and Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN), but remains committed to the brick-and-mortar business and believes that the food and consumer staples its tenants sell can resist the pressure posed by e-commerce grocery platforms.
The company’s stores are primarily located in Florida and other Sun Belt states. It intends to continue focusing its expansion efforts on those regions. The stock has a market cap of $4.8 billion and a current yield of 3.6%.
Gladstone Investment Corp. (GAIN)
GAIN is a BDC that was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in McLean, Virginia. The company is administered by Gladstone Management Corp., which sponsors a well-regarded family of BDCs and REITs.
GAIN provides flexible debt and preferred equity financing to lower middle market businesses in the U.S. Its specialty is buyout and recapitalization loans to mature companies with earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of between $4 million and $15 million. The company has special expertise in serving manufacturing and industrial companies, but has several clients in the consumer products and business services industry as well.
The company’s average investment is about $75 million. A typical structure would include 75% debt financing with the remainder being equity or preferred equity. GAIN has a market capitalization of about $537 million. The stock’s current dividend is 6.8%.
LTC Properties Inc. (LTC)
LTC is a $1.7 billion REIT that operates in the health care segment of the real estate sector. Senior housing and medical elder care are difficult but thriving businesses in the U.S. Demand is driven by the aging population, especially the baby boomer generation, which is largely retired or facing retirement in the next five to 10 years.
LTC owns long-term care and geriatric medical centers, which it leases on a long-term, net lease basis to established and experienced operators. The properties are financed in sale and lease-back transactions in which LTC buys the properties for cash and then leases them back to the seller for 15 to 50 years.
In addition to holding leases, LTC owns and operates a few facilities outright. That makes this REIT a “hybrid” REIT, which simply means it shares characteristics with both equity REITs and mortgage REITs, or mREITs. The current yield for the stock is 6.3%.
Realty Income Corp. (O)
In addition to being one of the most reliable and popular monthly dividend stocks on the market, O is also a dependable dividend growth stock. The company is a component of the S&P Dividend Aristocrats Index and has increased its annual dividend payout every year for 30 consecutive years. The stock currently yields 5.6%.
Known as “The Monthly Dividend Company,”, Realty Income owns more than 15,000 commercial properties, which are leased to about 1,500 investment-grade tenants. Its clients are mostly national chain drug stores, well-known convenience stores and big-box retail giants. According to company literature, its occupancy rate tops 98%.
Morningstar Equity Research has a “buy” rating on the stock and has assigned it five out of five stars. That positive outlook is based on reliable dividend growth from a steadily performing, high-quality portfolio.
SL Green Realty Corp. (SLG)
SLG is the largest commercial landlord in New York City. The company has an interest in more than 50 office buildings representing 32 million square feet of rentable space in Manhattan and other boroughs of New York City.
In addition to buying buildings off the open market, SLG is a major builder and developer of office and mixed-use buildings. High interest rates and sticky inflation have hampered the performance of this office REIT. In response, the company has become very deliberate about the rates, terms and conditions of financing it accepts. As rates fall and inflation falls to the Fed’s target rate of 2%, performance of this name should improve.
In the meantime, SLG remains a consistent monthly dividend stock. The current yield of the stock is 5.6%.
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Update 08/27/25: This story was published at an earlier date and has been updated with new information.
