Investing

Want to Retire Wealthy? These 5 High-Yield Dividend Stocks Could Be Your Ticket

Ian Cooper

Published: March 14, 2025 4:03 pm

If you really want to generate wealth, you can’t go wrong with dependable high-yield stocks, especially those with a strong history of consistent dividends and growth.

Look at real estate investment trusts (REIT), for example.

Key Points About This Article 

• If you want to generate wealth, you can’t go wrong with dependable high-yield stocks, especially those with a strong history of consistent dividends and growth.
• With a yield of 6.6%, Crown Castle operates and leases more than 40,000 cell towers and approximately 90,000 route miles of fiber supporting small cells and fiber solutions across every major U.S. market.
• With a yield of 17.63%, Orchid Island Capital (ORC) invests in residential mortgage-backed securities on a leveraged basis.
• Also: Take this quiz to see if you’re on track to retire ^(Sponsored)

For one, most are a great hedge against inflation. After all, when inflation rises, so do a lot of rents. Two, we’re seeing a recovery in demand for offices, apartment buildings, warehouses, hospitals, shopping centers and hotels. We’re also seeing bigger demand for e-commerce, logistics and warehouse demands, as noted by JPMorgan. 

We must also consider the increasing demand for data center REITs, especially with the rapid growth of artificial intelligence and cloud computing. Remember, “The global data center market is growing fast and showing no signs of slowing down. Most estimates project a compounded annual growth rate of around 12%,” added US News & World Report.

And where there’s growth, there’s opportunity – which only becomes more attractive with growing dividend yields.  Here are five REITs you may want to consider today.

Crown Castle 

With a yield of 6.6%, Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) operates and leases more than 40,000 cell towers and approximately 90,000 route miles of fiber supporting small cells and fiber solutions across every major U.S. market. Helping to drive growth, “The most likely candidate to propel even more intense data usage is artificial intelligence, which has the potential to demand massive amounts of data as it generates more photos and video as well as text. And carriers don’t have control of how, or how quickly AI usage will evolve,” as noted by RCRWireless.com.

The company also just declared a $1.565 per share quarterly dividend, which is payable on March 31 to shareholders of record as of March 14. Earnings have also been solid, with Crown Castle posting funds from operations (FFO) of $1.80. which beat by 15 cents. Revenue of $1.65 billion, while down 1.2% year over year, beat by $10 million.

Orchid Island Capital 

With a yield of 17.63%, Orchid Island Capital (NYSE:ORC) invests in residential mortgage-backed securities on a leveraged basis. “Income generated for distribution to our shareholders is based primarily on the difference between the yield on our mortgage assets and the cost of our borrowings,” as noted on the company’s site.

ORC will also pay a monthly dividend of 12 cents per share on March 28 to shareholders of record as of February 28. Recent earnings weren’t too shabby. EPS of seven cents came in better than expectations for a loss of two cents. Revenue of $8.1 million was also better than estimates of $1.83 million. In addition, its full-year 2024 net income jumped to 57 cents per share from a loss of 89 cents a year earlier.

Arbor Realty Trust 

We can also look at Arbor Realty Trust (NYSE:ABR), which yields 14.26%    at the moment.

The REIT, a nationwide real estate investment trust and direct lender, provides loan origination and servicing for multifamily, single-family rental (SFR) portfolios and other diverse commercial real estate assets, will soon pay a 43-cent quarterly dividend on March 21 to shareholders of record as of March 7. If you missed this one, more are on the way.

In its most recent quarter, the company’s distributable EPS of 40 cents did miss estimates of 41 cents. Net income of $82.9 million was above expectations of $80.4 million.

Digital Realty Trust 

With a yield of 3.34%, Digital Realty Trust (NYSE:DLR) has more than 300 data centers and has now become one of the biggest REITs in the U.S. with a market cap of $48.41 billion. DLR also declared a quarterly dividend of $1.22 per share, which is payable on March 31 to shareholders of record as of March 14.

Helping, future growth is being fueled by the artificial intelligence data center boom. Thanks to artificial intelligence, data center demand is expected to rise at a 15% CAGR until 2030, according to Goldman Sachs. 

“Almost every industry is now looking for new AI functionality that can streamline processes and improve results. In this new digital landscape, data centers are uniquely positioned to both provide and benefit from AI applications,” added Digital Realty. And until the AI boom slows, which won’t happen any time soon, data centers will continue to see significant demand.

Plus, according to analysts at HSBC, data center demand has far outweighed supply thanks to AI demand and constrained supply in key markets. They also expect DLR to see further, strong momentum as we get into 2025.

EPR Properties (EPR) 

There’s also EPR Properties (NYSE:EPR) – an experiential REIT focused on amusement parks, movie theatres, ski resorts and other entertainment properties. Most impressive, it yields 7 % and leases properties under long-term net leases. It’s also getting set to pay a dividend of $0.285 on March 17 to shareholders of record as of February 28.

Funds from operations in its fourth quarter came in a $1.23 beating estimates by a penny. Revenue of $177.23 million, up 3.1% year over year beat by $15.98 million. Also, as noted by Chairman and CEO Greg Silvers, “Supported by our strong liquidity position and balance sheet, we have a solid pipeline of relationship-driven investment opportunities and maintain our commitment to prudent capital allocation.”

Analysts at Wells Fargo just raised their price target on EPR to $52 from $45. RBC Capital raised its price target on the EPR stock to $58 from $50 with an outperform rating.