3 Blue-Chip Dividend Stocks Yielding Over 5% – September 2025

September has a habit of making investors glance twice at their statements. The post-summer calm often gives way to choppy price swings, and this year, it’s increasingly tempting to seek refuge in dividend stocks. These stocks have outperformed during previous rate cut environments, and if they are blue chips, it makes them even more attractive.

Long-term Treasuries currently yield a hair below 5%. Bonds are considered to be risk-free, so many don’t bother entering the equity market for the extra yield. Capital appreciation more than makes up for the yield in the long run, but once interest rate cuts start, a significant amount of money will rotate into dividend stocks for yield.

Here are three blue-chip dividend stocks to look into:

Verizon Communications (VZ)

Verizon (NYSE:VZ) seems to be making a quiet transition from being a debt-ridden, boring telecom company to a key piece of the AI supply chain. VZ stock declined by over 40% from its late 2020 peak to its trough in 2023. Much of that pain was due to elevated interest expenses and rising interest rates.

The company still managed to stay profitable, and not only pay dividends, but increase them. The last time its dividend payout ratio went above 100% was back in 2012. Verizon comes with a 6.13% dividend yield and a 58% dividend payout ratio today, and it has grown its dividends by 1.9% annually over the past three years. It has done so while posting a net interest loss of $1.6 billion in Q2 2025.

The cash flow is remarkable, and management plans to use it to capture AI tailwinds. Verizon already uses AI to offer customized plans to its customer base, and its massive wireless network is expected to be a big beneficiary of the data center buildout. Per its CEO, “Power, space, and cooling are the currencies that are in demand right now, and we have all three.” Both Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) and Meta (NASDAQ:META) are already using Verizon’s infrastructure for AI purposes.

Verizon is one of the only profitable AI-related bets you can make at a reasonable price.

Enterprise Products Partners (EPD)

Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE:EPD) is one of the best dividend stocks you can buy in the current environment. It is a midstream energy company that transports natural gas, meaning that the company is mostly unaffected by price swings and instead derives sales from volume. Even if natural gas transport volume falls, the company would remain largely shielded from the fallout due to its contracts being long-term and fee-based. To top it all off, this company does business almost exclusively in the U.S, making it outside the purview of tariffs.

And when it does have international exposure, it’s a positive. U.S. natural gas exports have been booming, and much of it flows through EPD’s pipelines. Europe has emerged as a significant importer of North American natural gas due to conflicts in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Shipping gas in from the United States is far safer than shipping it through the Red Sea or around Africa. And even when these ships do sail around Africa, they need to go through the Gulf of Guinea, which is a hotbed of piracy, even more so than the coast of Somalia.

EPD’s cash flow remains stable, and the stock itself has done quite well, up 82.3% over the past five years. It currently yields 6.93%. EPD is also a Dividend Aristocrat, with 28 consecutive years of dividend increases. The forward payout ratio is 75.15%.

Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY)

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) is a biopharmaceutical company that covers medicines for serious diseases, like cancer, HIV/AIDS, heart diseases, psychiatric disorders, and more. When a biopharmaceutical company is small with a narrow focus, it can be very risky. However, the diversified pipeline of drugs makes BMY stock great for long-term investing.

In many cases, medicines act almost like annuities, since people rarely get off them once they start taking them. This is especially true for serious disorders like the one BMY focuses on.

BMY stock has declined by nearly 22% over the past five years due to its $50.93 billion debt load. This has caused it to incur significant debt servicing costs. It’s not a big issue long-term, especially as rate cuts are expected this month.

EPS is expected to bounce back significantly, with 62% annual growth expected in the coming years.

In the meantime, you can cash in or invest the 5.24% dividend yield. The payout ratio is just 37%.

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