What 2019's Top Dividend Stocks Reveal About Income Investing

As investors look back at the 2019 market landscape, examining the top dividend stocks that delivered exceptional returns offers valuable lessons for income-focused portfolios. These leading performers weren’t selected by chance—they met rigorous criteria and demonstrated how different sectors can provide both growth and steady income streams.

Selection Criteria: What Made These Dividend Stocks Stand Out

To identify the year’s top dividend stocks of 2019, a specific framework was applied. Companies had to be large-cap firms with market capitalizations exceeding $10 billion and offer dividend yields of at least 3% at year’s end. This dual requirement balanced the stability of established companies with meaningful income generation. Of the top 10 performers, nine showed profitability on a trailing-12-month basis, with Western Digital being the sole exception. The results revealed that when dividend stocks combine size, income, and growth potential, exceptional returns follow.

The Performance Leaders: A Comprehensive Ranking

Investment Managers Dominate the Top Positions

It’s logical that 2019—a banner year for equities and alternative investments—saw investment management firms leading the top dividend stocks. The Carlyle Group, Apollo Global Management, and The Blackstone Group captured the three top spots, each commanding positions in private equity, real assets, and credit markets. These firms manage capital for wealthy families, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, university endowments, foundations, and corporations.

The scale of these operations is impressive. At the close of the third quarter, Carlyle oversaw $222 billion in assets under management, Apollo managed $323 billion, and Blackstone stewarded $554 billion—a remarkable 21% year-over-year jump. Wall Street’s analysts project steady earnings growth across all three, with Carlyle expected to lead at 15.8% annualized growth over the next five years. This outlook helps explain why dividend stocks in the asset management space attracted such robust investor interest.

Technology Sector Powers Into the Dividend Stocks Mix

The technology sector claimed three positions among 2019’s top performers, occupying the fourth through sixth slots. Western Digital and Seagate Technology, both data storage specialists, collectively dominate the hard disk drive market and cater to enterprise and consumer segments. Western Digital operates under multiple well-known brands including its namesake, SanDisk, and G-Technology, while Seagate serves similar markets with complementary solutions.

The unexpected addition to this tech trio is Mobile TeleSystems (MTS), Russia’s preeminent telecom and digital services operator. With a dividend yield of 8.7%, MTS exemplifies how certain dividend stocks offer outsized income—but with a tradeoff. High-yield equities typically carry greater volatility and risk. MTS’s performance illustrates this dynamic: while 2019 was excellent, the company returned only 1.9% over the entire 2010s decade, demonstrating that recent success doesn’t guarantee long-term outperformance.

Energy and Infrastructure: Blending Stability and Growth

Two energy-focused entities demonstrated how infrastructure-oriented dividend stocks appealed to 2019 investors seeking both income and modest capital appreciation. TC Energy operates an extensive network of natural gas and crude oil pipelines, storage facilities, and power generation assets across Canada, the United States, and Mexico. Notably, the company has grown its dividend for 19 consecutive years—a testament to the reliability of its business model.

Phillips 66 Partners, structured as a master limited partnership (MLP), was created to own and operate fee-based crude oil, refined petroleum product, and natural gas liquids pipelines alongside related midstream assets. This structure and business focus explain why dividend stocks with energy infrastructure exposure attracted sustained investor capital in 2019.

Utilities: The Traditional Foundation for Dividend Stocks

Rounding out the list are two utilities—the sector synonymous with dividend-paying equity investment. The Southern Company ranks as the fifth-largest utility by market capitalization in the United States, operating electric utilities across three southern states, natural gas utilities in four states, and related businesses including a power generation company, distributed energy infrastructure operations, and telecommunications services. Like TC Energy, Southern Company has raised its dividend annually for 19 consecutive years.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners, one of the world’s largest infrastructure network operators, facilitates the movement and storage of energy, water, freight, passengers, and data across critical global networks. With 12 consecutive years of dividend increases, Brookfield Infrastructure exemplifies how dividend stocks structured around essential infrastructure can deliver sustained returns and reliable income.

The 2019 performance of these dividend stocks across multiple sectors underscores a fundamental investment principle: combining solid business foundations, meaningful income yields, and exposure to growing secular trends creates compelling opportunities for investors seeking both stability and appreciation.