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Dividend Yield Screener — Find High-Yield Mid-Cap Stocks
Mid-cap dividend payers ranked by yield, with sector medians and payout ratios overlaid per row. Find the highest-yielding stocks in each sector relative to peers.
How to Read Dividend Yield Data
Dividend yield is the simplest measure of the income a stock pays you. Take the trailing annual dividend per share, divide it by the current price, and you have the yield. A stock yielding 4% returns $4 of cash income each year for every $100 invested, before any change in the share price. It is the income-investing counterpart to a bond's coupon — but with a crucial difference: dividends are a choice management makes each quarter, not a contractual obligation, so the durability of the payout matters as much as its size.
The vs. Sector Avg column is the bookmark feature of this screener. A stock with a 4% yield looks different if its sector median is 2% (paying double the sector rate) versus if its sector median is 6% (well below peers). The sector overlay removes the structural difference between high-payout sectors like utilities and low-payout sectors like technology, and lets you ask the right question: is this company returning more cash to shareholders than comparable businesses at the price you are paying?
Color coding reflects the absolute dividend yield: green (≥5%) flags a high yield, amber (2–4.9%) is moderate, and neutral means below 2%. Always pair the color with the payout ratio column — a high yield backed by a payout ratio well under 60% is far more durable than an equally high yield sitting on a payout ratio near or above 100%, where a cut may be coming.
For a deeper understanding of how to build a dividend portfolio and judge payout safety, see our dividend investing guide.
Yield vs. Payout Ratio
Yield tells you how much income you receive; the payout ratio tells you how safe that income is. The two work together. A 6% yield backed by a 40% payout ratio means the company pays out less than half its earnings and has ample room to sustain — even grow — the dividend through a downturn. The same 6% yield backed by a 95% payout ratio means almost every dollar of earnings goes out the door, leaving no cushion if profits dip. When you sort this screener by yield, always read the payout ratio in the same row before treating a high number as a bargain.
When a High Yield Is a Trap
A high dividend yield is not automatically a buy signal. Because yield moves inversely with price, a yield can spike simply because the shares have fallen — often because the market expects the dividend to be cut. This is the classic yield trap: the headline number looks generous, but the trailing dividend it is based on may not survive the next declaration. Warning signs include a payout ratio above 100%, a yield far above the sector median with no obvious business advantage, and a falling share price on deteriorating fundamentals. Always confirm that the dividend is covered by earnings and cash flow before treating a high current yield as reliable income.
Frequently asked questions
What dividend yield is considered high?
A yield above 5% is generally considered high for a mid-cap stock. It means the company returns a relatively large share of its value as cash each year. But a high yield is not automatically better: it can reflect a falling price ahead of a dividend cut. Sector context matters too — 5% is high for technology but ordinary for a utility or REIT, which is why this screener overlays the sector median.
How does this screener get its data?
The screener pulls from our editorial coverage universe — mid-cap stocks we actively cover — using Yahoo Finance for the financial data. For each dividend-paying stock it fetches the trailing annual dividend yield, payout ratio, market capitalization, sector, and company name. It then computes the sector median dividend yield across all covered payers in that sector. Non-payers are excluded, and data refreshes hourly.
Why is a stock I expected missing from the list?
The screener only includes dividend payers from our mid-cap coverage universe. Stocks that pay no dividend are excluded by design, since they have no yield to rank. A company may also be absent if Yahoo Finance did not return a valid trailing dividend yield for it, or if it falls outside the market-cap band we cover. This is a focused list of 40–50 mid-cap payers, not a market-wide screen.
Can I compare dividend yields across sectors?
You can, but direct cross-sector comparison is misleading without context. High-payout sectors like utilities, real estate, and consumer staples structurally carry higher yields; growth-oriented sectors pay little or nothing. The vs. Sector Avg column normalizes for this: it lets you compare relative income generation within a sector rather than absolute yields across sectors that operate on different payout norms.
What does the payout ratio column tell me?
The payout ratio is the fraction of earnings paid out as dividends. Below roughly 60% suggests the dividend has room to be sustained and grown. Approaching or exceeding 100% means the company is paying out more than it earns, which typically cannot continue without a cut, additional debt, or an earnings recovery. Reading the payout ratio alongside the yield is the quickest way to separate a durable income stock from a potential yield trap.
How do I find the full analysis for a stock in the screener?
Click the ticker symbol in the first column to open the Basis Report stock intelligence page for that company. From there you can review dividend history and coverage, run a full DCF valuation, check earnings quality, and generate a complete research report. The dividend yield screener is the entry point; the full report gives you the depth to judge whether the income is safe.