With earnings season in full swing and Wall Street analysts getting a good look at second-quarter numbers, we are seeing many of the firms we cover tweaking the top portfolios they prepare for institutional and high net worth clients. A new report from UBS includes changes to the firm’s Dividend Ruler stocks portfolio.

The UBS Dividend Ruler stocks portfolio offers investors what the analysts feel are the ultimate total return vehicles to add to a long-term growth portfolio. The stocks in most cases pay better than average dividends, consistently raise those dividends and have solid growth potential — the three keys for overall investing success. The Dividend Rule portfolio has substantially outperformed the S&P 500 since its inception in 2003.

We profile the new changes to the Dividend Ruler stocks and highlight the current four top-yielding companies that the UBS team has residing in the portfolio.

AFLAC Inc. (NYSE: AFL) was removed from the portfolio and there is a key reason. The analysts cite the slowing dividend growth at the giant insurer, from a mid-teens rate to just 5%. They also see forward fundamentals slowing as another reason for the removal. Shares closed most recently at $61.79.

PepsiCo Inc. (NYSE: PEP) was added to the portfolio. The UBS analysts highlight that the company raised the dividend 7% in May, and they see dividends growing at a similar rate over the next three to five years. The UBS team also believes the company should continue to benefit from an improving pricing environment, together with cost savings from both productivity gains and lower commodity input costs. PepsiCo investors are paid a solid 2.9% dividend, and the shares closed Wednesday at $96.35.

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Here are the current four top-yielding Dividend Ruler stocks.

Dominion Resources

Many of the Wall Street firms that we cover are becoming more positive on utilities again. Dominion Resources Inc. (NYSE: D) is one of the nation’s largest producers and transporters of energy, with a portfolio of approximately 24,600 megawatts of generation and 6,455 miles of electric transmission lines. Dominion operates one of the nation’s largest natural gas storage systems, with 928 billion cubic feet of storage capacity, and serves utility and retail energy customers in 13 states.

Dominion Resources has a series of solid growth-oriented projects in its pipeline, including combined-cycle facilities in Brunswick County and Greensville County, Va. The company is also heavily investing in midstream assets, such as Cove Point Liquefaction and Atlantic Coast Pipeline projects, which could provide solid returns once they come on line.

Dominion Resources investors are paid a solid 3.75% dividend. The UBS price target for the stock is $79, and the Thomson/First Call consensus price target is at $79.31. The stock closed Wednesday at $69.52.

Johnson & Johnson

This larger pharmaceutical conglomerate is another yield leader on the UBS list. Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) is one the top market cap stocks in the health care sector and will raised the dividend for shareholders this year for the 52nd consecutive year. With everything from medical devices to over-the-counter health items and prescription drugs, the company remains one of the most diversified health care names on Wall Street.

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It also has one of the most exciting pipelines of new drugs. With branded pharmaceuticals leading the sales growth for the company, investors received a mildly bullish report when the company reported second-quarter numbers. U.S. consumer health sales rose nearly 3%, versus a 9% decline in total revenue. That and other factors helped the company just squeak by Wall Street estimates.

Johnson & Johnson investors are paid a 3.01% dividend. The UBS target price was unavailable. The consensus target is $109.59. Shares closed Wednesday at $100.42.

NextEra Energy

This company may have been hit recently for a perceived lack of a renewables pipeline expansion, and it is the other utility on the Dividend Ruler roster. NextEra Energy Inc. (NYSE: NEE) is a leading clean energy company, with consolidated revenues of approximately $17.0 billion, approximately 44,900 megawatts of generating capacity, which includes megawatts associated with noncontrolling interests related to NextEra Energy Partners.

The company recently completed a merger with Hawaiian Electric, which has put Hawaii on the leading edge of clean energy nationally, successfully integrating rooftop solar with 12% of its residential customers and helping meet 21% of customer electricity needs from renewable energy resources. The company supplies power to approximately 450,000 customers, or 95%, of Hawaii’s population, through its electric utilities, Hawaiian Electric Company, Hawaii Electric Light Company and Maui Electric Company, and provides a wide array of banking and other financial services to consumers and businesses through American Savings Bank, one of Hawaii’s largest financial institutions.

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Shareholders are paid a very solid 3.02% dividend. The UBS price target is posted at $115, and the consensus target is $117.33. Shares closed Wednesday at $102.77.

Occidental Petroleum

This is another top stock, as well as a high-yielding domestic stock in the energy sector. Occidental Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: OXY) announced last year it will continue to grow dividends and expects to begin buying back more shares this year and beyond, a double plus for shareholders. Analysts feel that the company still faces the rebounding oil price correction with the strongest balance sheet in the sector, with net cash at year-end 2014 estimated at around $1.7 billion, and a whopping $11 per share of cash available for buybacks. With chemicals and other products helping to blunt the drop in oil, Occidental is well positioned to continue to ride out the storm.

After the spin-off of California Resources last year, which some have recently been aggressively selling short, many on Wall Street that champion the stock feel that the overall corporate portfolio is much more streamlined. In addition, the company’s lower-than-average leverage gives it the flexibility to return cash to shareholders at a “best in class” rate. Some Wall Street analysts think that the company could be a buyer of Permian Basin assets in the second half of 2015.

This is also another company that is taking advantage of huge current cost savings. In fact, capital expenditures are expected to fall from $1.7 billion to $1.0 billion by the end of the year.

Occidental shareholders are paid an outstanding 4.04% dividend, the highest of the Dividend Ruler stocks. The UBS price target is $84, but the consensus target is higher at $86.13. The stock closed on Wednesday at $73.09.

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Any way you look at it, the market is expensive, trading at 18 time trailing earnings. While every dip continues to be bought, there is enough external macro headlines to keep investors on their toes. The Dividend Ruler stocks are always a solid route for long-term investors to go.

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