rewrite this title Top Wall Street analysts recommend these dividend stocks for regular income

As the stock market focuses on major earnings and negotiations on the tariff front, investors seeking a regular income stream continue to look for attractive dividend stocks amid ongoing volatility.

To this end, the analysis of top Wall Street analysts can provide useful insights that can help investors pick companies with solid fundamentals and the ability to pay dividends consistently.  

Here are three dividend-paying stocks, highlighted by Wall Street’s top pros, as tracked by TipRanks, a platform that ranks analysts based on their past performance.

Oil and gas exploration and production company EOG Resources (EOG) is first on this week’s list. In May, the company announced a deal to acquire Encino Acquisition Partners (EAP) for $5.6 billion. EOG stated that the deal’s accretion to its free cash flow supports a 5% increase in its quarterly dividend, to $1.02 per share, payable on Oct. 31. At an annualized dividend of $4.08 per share, EOG stock offers a dividend yield of 3.4%.

Ahead of EOG Resources’ second-quarter earnings call on Aug. 8, Siebert Williams Shank analyst Gabriele Sorbara reiterated a buy rating on EOG stock with a price forecast of $155. In comparison, TipRanks’ AI analyst has a price target of $138 on EOG stock with an “outperform” rating. Meanwhile, Sorbara stated that he expects EOG to report strong quarterly results on both the operational and financial fronts. 

The five-star analyst believes that investors will pay more attention to EOG’s significant expansion in the Utica shale via the EAP acquisition, as the deal is expected to provide catalysts from the integration, synergies, and execution in the quarters ahead. 

“All in all, we are positive EOG into the print, especially since EOG should be more defensive in the current price environment,” said Sorbara.

The analyst is also bullish on EOG due to its peer-leading shareholder returns, supported by its solid free cash flow generation, best-in-class balance sheet, and the Utica shale expansion. Sorbara expects EOG to maintain its commitment to return at least 70% of free cash flow to shareholders annually via dividends and opportunistic buybacks. He expects $450 million of buybacks for Q2 2025. Overall, Sorbara estimates $976.6 million of capital returns, representing 107.7% of free cash flow and a 6.0% capital returns yield.

Sorbara ranks No. 178 among more than 9,800 analysts tracked by TipRanks. His ratings have been profitable 55% of the time, delivering an average return of 22.5%. See EOG Resources Ownership Structure on TipRanks.

Energy infrastructure provider Williams Companies (WMB) is the next dividend-paying stock in focus. WMB offers a quarterly dividend of 50 cents per share (annualized dividend of $2.00 per share), reflecting a yield of 3.5%.

Heading into WMB’s Q2 results scheduled for early August, RBC Capital analyst Elvira Scotto reaffirmed a buy rating on the stock with a price target of $63. Interestingly, TipRanks’ AI analyst has a “neutral” rating on WMB stock with a price target of $63. Meanwhile, Scotto lowered the Q2 projections to reflect insights from the conversations with the WMB team, seasonal adjustments to marketing estimates, and RBC’s updated commodity price deck.

Scotto expects sequential decline in commodity prices to be a modest headwind in the second quarter, particularly for WMB’s upstream operations. The analyst expects Q2 results to be impacted by lower quarter-over-quarter marketing contributions due to normal seasonality and higher storage fees, partially offset by contributions from the recent investment in Cogentrix.

On the positive side, Scotto is confident about WMB’s long-term growth, backed by its robust backlog of projects with low build multiples (less than five-times capex to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization), with planned in-services dates through 2030. The analyst also expects WMB to benefit from additional behind-the-meter (BTM) projects and the potential revival of the Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) pipeline and the Constitution pipeline project.

“Despite its recent selloff, we still view WMB as one of the best positioned companies within our coverage universe to benefit from growing natural gas demand,” said Scotto.

Scotto ranks No. 72 among more than 9,800 analysts tracked by TipRanks. Her ratings have been successful 67% of the time, delivering an average return of 18.5%. See Williams Insider Trading Activity on TipRanks.

Finally, let’s look at telecom giant Verizon Communications (VZ). The company delivered solid results for the second quarter of 2025. Verizon raised the lower end of its annual profit guidance, reflecting robust demand for its premium plans and its reaction to the new tax law under the Trump administration.

The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.6775 per share, payable on Aug. 1. With an annualized dividend of $2.71, VZ stock offers a dividend yield of 6.3%.

In reaction to the Q2 print, Citi analyst Michael Rollins reiterated a buy rating on Verizon stock with a price forecast of $48. Also, TipRanks’ AI analyst has an “outperform” rating on VZ stock with a price target of $49. Rollins noted Verizon’s Q2 performance and the upgrade to the full-year EBITDA and EPS guidance based on the relative strength in the first half of the year.

He added that key performance indicators (KPIs) were mixed and continue to reflect a more promotional competitive backdrop. Notably, Rollins trimmed his postpaid phone subscriber outlook to reflect a year-over-year rise in churn, which is expected to persist in the second half of the year.

“Verizon indicated a more disciplined approach to subscriber acquisition, which is encouraging for competitive dynamics and its financials, albeit likely dilutive to its near-term volume KPIs,” said Rollins.

Despite additional promotional costs and lighter volume, Rollins believes that Verizon is well-positioned to deliver its full-year guidance. Overall, Rollins remains bullish on VZ stock, given its relative value and opportunities for the company to sustain annual financial growth.

Rollins ranks No. 276 among more than 9,800 analysts tracked by TipRanks. His ratings have been successful 68% of the time, delivering an average return of 12.6%. See Verizon Stock Charts on TipRanks.