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3 Safe Dividend Stocks Yielding At Least 3% to Buy Without Hesitation Right Now | The Motley Fool

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3 Safe Dividend Stocks Yielding At Least 3% to Buy Without Hesitation Right Now | The Motley Fool

These top dividend stocks should continue increasing their already lucrative payouts.

The S&P 500‘s dividend yield is around 1.2% these days, which is near its all-time low. However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t attractive income opportunities today. Several high-quality companies currently offer dividend yields that are much higher.

Here are three safe dividend stocks with yields of at least 3% that you can confidently buy right now.

Image source: Getty Images.

Brookfield Infrastructure

Brookfield Infrastructure‘s (BIPC +0.78%)(BIP +1.61%) dividend yield is around 3.8% these days. The global infrastructure operator has a diverse portfolio of critical infrastructure businesses across the utilities, transportation, energy midstream, and data sectors. Most of those businesses generate durable cash flows backed by long-term contracts or government-regulated rate structures (85% of its funds from operations) that either index rates to inflation or protect its earnings from its impact. As a result, Brookfield generates steadily rising cash flow to support its dividend.

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The company aims to pay out 60% to 70% of its stable cash flows in dividends, retaining the remainder to reinvest in expanding its operations. Brookfield currently has about $7.8 billion in capital projects in its backlog, which it expects to complete over the next two to three years. The bulk is in its data segment (nearly $6 billion) and includes its investments in a U.S. semiconductor foundry and multiple global data center projects.

Brookfield Infrastructure Stock Quote

Brookfield Infrastructure

Today’s Change

(0.78%) $0.35

Current Price

$45.54

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Brookfield Infrastructure also acquires new businesses. It has secured $1.5 billion of deals over the past year, including investments in a U.S. refined products pipeline system, a bulk fiber network, and an advanced fuel cell system to power data centers. The company’s growth catalysts support its expectations of growing its funds from operations by more than 10% annually, which should drive dividend increases of 5% to 9% each year. Brookfield has grown its payout at a 9% compound annual rate since 2009.

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ExxonMobil

ExxonMobil (XOM +0.94%) has a dividend yield of just over 3%. The global oil and gas giant supports its dividend with a large-scale, globally integrated business. That helps mute some of the impact of oil price volatility on its earnings. Exxon also has a fortress balance sheet.

ExxonMobil Stock Quote

Today’s Change

(0.94%) $1.26

Current Price

$134.90

The oil and gas giant is already the most profitable company in the industry. It expects to make even more money in the future. Exxon anticipates delivering $25 billion in earnings growth and $35 billion in cash flow growth, compared to 2024’s levels, on a constant-price, constant-margin basis by 2030. It aims to deliver that incremental profitability through a combination of structural cost savings and high-return growth capital projects.

Exxon’s plan would enable it to generate about $145 billion in cumulative surplus cash over the next five years at an average oil price of around $65 per barrel. That would give the oil company plenty of fuel to continue increasing its dividend, which it has done for a sector-leading 42 consecutive years.

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Prologis

Prologis (PLD +0.38%) has a 3.2% dividend yield. The real estate investment trust (REIT) backs its dividend with the stable cash flows produced by the long-term leases securing its properties. Most of its leases contain annual rental escalation clauses, enabling it to earn steadily rising rental income.

Prologis Stock Quote

Today’s Change

(0.38%) $0.48

Current Price

$127.15

The REIT has a conservative dividend payout ratio and one of the sector’s strongest balance sheets. That gives it the financial flexibility to expand its portfolio. It invests in development projects and makes acquisitions.

Prologis primarily invests in logistics properties. However, it sees a significant opportunity to leverage its vast land bank, its experience installing solar panels and battery storage at its sites, and its expertise in constructing building shells to develop data centers. These growth drivers should enable Prologis to continue increasing its dividend. It has grown its payout at a 13% compound annual rate over the last five years, well above the S&P 500’s 5% average.

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High-quality dividend stocks

Brookfield Infrastructure, ExxonMobil, and Prologis all pay dividends yielding more than 3% backed by strong businesses and financial profiles. They also have excellent dividend growth track records, which should continue. Those features make them safe dividend stocks you shouldn’t hesitate to buy right now.

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Finance

Low-income Chinese girl aces gaokao, inspires live-streamers offering help

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Low-income Chinese girl aces gaokao, inspires live-streamers offering help

A girl from a disadvantaged rural family in central China topped this year’s gaokao, attracting numerous live-streamers eager to finance her education, which she declined.

The home of 18-year-old secondary school graduate Han Yaping in a Henan province village was recently bustling with live-streamers.

This attention came after Han achieved an impressive score of 699 out of 750 in the gaokao, China’s national college entrance exam.

She has received offers from China’s two leading universities, Tsinghua University and Peking University.

Han’s accomplishment is particularly remarkable given her family’s impoverished circumstances.

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Her mother suffers from ankylosing spondylitis, an inflammatory arthritis affecting the spine, preventing her from working. Her father, who earns a living through farming and odd jobs, serves as the family’s sole provider. Han also has a younger sister.

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UK financial regulator publishes landmark AI review

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UK financial regulator publishes landmark AI review

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a landmark review on Monday that proposes recommendations to regulate the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on the financial decisions made by consumers.

The review, titled the Mills Review, anticipates that both consumers and firms will start delegating “more financial decision-making to AI systems,” including for agreements, initiating transactions, and executing decisions “within agreed parameters.” One of the key findings of the review outlined that while AI can help bridge advice gaps and “support growth,” there remain risks “associated with fraud, cyber security, and consumer harm.” Conducting the review, Sheldon Mills highlighted that “AI can also amplify risks: bias, discrimination, exclusion, opaque decision-making (particularly when multiple AI models interact), misleading or hallucinatory advice and erosion of consumer trust.”

The review stated that presently, one in five adults in the UK are “already open to AI making decisions for them,” particularly when decisions feel “complex or high stakes.” It found that roughly 26 percent of the population “trust general-purpose tools such as ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini for financial advice” with little awareness that such platforms provide no “formal routes to recourse” or protections.

Overall, the Mills Review identified four areas that it anticipates will be impacted by AI in the financial sector: “the transformation of firms,” “new consumer journeys,” “a reshaped competition landscape,” and “amplified financial crime and cyber risk.” The FCA projected the shift in how consumers and firms consult AI to take place by 2030.

The Mills Review put forth seven “priority” recommendations to be considered by the FCA Board. It recommended that any transitions to autonomous AI models be monitored and that regulatory frameworks and perimeters be adapted and secured. The review called for the strengthening of “system-wide coordination and oversight,” the scaling up of the FCA’s AI Lab to enable it to support AI models and innovation for agentic finance, and an “AI-enabled agentic supervisory model” to be built and adopted.   Finally, it recommended that a trusted “public-interest AI-enabled financial capability service” be developed.

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The FCA announced, in the press release, that it will launch an AI “good and poor practice publication” in late 2026.

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Fayette County Public Schools Board of Education approves audit contract, new finance director position

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Fayette County Public Schools Board of Education approves audit contract, new finance director position

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) – The Fayette County Public Schools Board of Education approved a one-year audit contract capped at $131,750 plus $225 per hour during a virtual meeting Monday, along with a new finance director job description.

The contract is with Mauldin & Jenkins Certified Public Accountants, an Atlanta-based firm, and covers the 2025-26 fiscal year and the restatement of the 2024-25 fiscal year and ancillary services through FY 2029-2030. The work is set to be completed by Nov. 15.

The board approved the contract in a 5-0 vote.

Audit contract details

Interim Chief Financial Officer Kyna Koch said the cost is already accounted for in the district’s budget.

“And is actually less than we expected given our current situation — we were thrilled with the bid,” Koch said.

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Koch said she believes this is Mauldin & Jenkins’ first school district audit in Kentucky, but that the firm works with school districts of more than 100,000 students throughout the Southeast.

“Quite frankly when I spoke to the folks at KDE they were thrilled because we’re running kind of short of auditors who want to do school district audits — so all around I think this was a win-win for everyone,” Koch said.

New finance director position

The board also approved a new job description for the position of Director of Finance. Acting Superintendent Dr. Bill Bradford said the title will replace two associate director positions.

“Which will not only save the school district money but it’s also going to streamline our work and align internal controls to make room for a more efficient unit,” Bradford said.

Koch said the position will be posted as soon as possible following the board’s approval.

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Closed session

The board went into closed session for more than an hour to discuss pending investigations that could lead to employee discipline. When the board returned, it took no action and adjourned the meeting.

Copyright 2026 WKYT. All rights reserved.

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