Key Takeaways
- ExxonMobil raised its quarterly dividend 4% to $1.07 a share on Oct. 30, while Verizon’s stock yields 6.3% to ExxonMobil’s 2.6%.
- Both dividends are well-covered: over the twelve months to Sept. 30, 2026, ExxonMobil paid out 40% of its free cash flow and Verizon 52%.
- Verizon carries far more debt, at 3.3x net debt to EBITDA against ExxonMobil’s 0.3x, and SpaceX’s push into mobile service sent its stock down 9% on Oct. 9.
- $10,000 pays $630 a year in Verizon today and $260 in ExxonMobil, though ExxonMobil’s dividend has grown faster over the past five years.
Any retiree hunting for dividend income is going to look hard at Verizon (VZ), which yields 6.3%. But ExxonMobil (XOM) just made its own case. On Oct. 30, it raised its quarterly dividend 4% to $1.07 a share, its 44th consecutive year of higher annual dividends per share.
Verizon’s October went the other way. Its shares fell 9% on Oct. 9, their worst day since 2002, after SpaceX agreed to buy spectrum to take Starlink into mobile service.
So, which one should a retiree own for income?
| Metric | ExxonMobil (XOM) | Verizon (VZ) |
|---|---|---|
| Dividend yield | 2.6% | 6.3% |
| Annual dividend, at the current rate | $4.28 a share | $2.83 a share |
| Dividend growth, fiscal 2020-2025 | 2.8% a year | 1.9% a year |
| Cash dividend payout ratio (TTM to Sept. 30, 2026) | 40% | 52% |
| Net debt / EBITDA (LTM) | 0.3x | 3.3x |
| Interest coverage (LTM) | 58.7x | 4.3x |
6 safe dividend stocks paying retirees 6%+ yields
There are over 100 stocks paying 6%+ annual dividends today.
But after an extensive investment review leveraging TIKR’s proprietary data, we now believe only six of them are truly safe for retirees.
They’re all yours for free as part of our new investment report, which you can access right here.
ExxonMobil has plenty of cash, most years
ExxonMobil is producing a lot of cash right now. It generated $19.1 billion of free cash flow in the third quarter of 2026 and paid $4.3 billion of dividends. Over the twelve months to Sept. 30, 2026, dividends took a well-covered 40% of free cash flow, against a tighter 73% in fiscal 2025.
Management points to record fuels utilization at its refineries this year and growth in Guyana, the Permian and LNG. Middle East disruptions, including damage to a Qatar LNG train, have cost it upstream volumes. The Financial Times also reported on Oct. 23 that ExxonMobil and Shell are exploring a sale of Infineum, their additives joint venture, at about $8 billion. A sale would add cash, though the dividend doesn’t depend on it.
The ten-year record shows how much that cash swings from year to year:
Free cash flow fell short of the dividend in fiscal 2016, 2019 and 2020. In fiscal 2020 it was negative $2.61 billion, against $14.9 billion of dividends. ExxonMobil paid anyway, and chairman and CEO Darren Woods said on the third-quarter call, “we’re not going to ever cut our dividend.” With 0.3x net debt to EBITDA, it can borrow through a bad year. The risk is that a weaker year for energy prices pushes free cash flow back toward fiscal 2025’s $23.6 billion, or lower.
Verizon’s cash shows up every year
Verizon pays more than twice ExxonMobil’s yield, from cash that swings far less. Its free cash flow has covered the dividend in every fiscal year since 2018:
Over the twelve months to Sept. 30, 2026, dividends took a well-covered 52% of free cash flow, against 57% in fiscal 2025.
The business is picking up, too. Verizon added 406,000 postpaid phones in the third quarter of 2026. Its mobility and broadband service revenue rose 2.9% from a year earlier to $23.5 billion, and free cash flow climbed 12.1% to $7.8 billion. It raised its 2026 outlook and now expects free cash flow growth to approach 12% for the year. On its third-quarter call, Verizon said it remains committed to growing the dividend and kept paying down debt in the quarter.
The risk is a new rival with deep pockets. Beyond the spectrum deal, Elon Musk said at the Baron Investment Conference on Nov. 6 that SpaceX “could just acquire that legacy telco and use their spectrum, you know, ten times more effectively.” He didn’t name a carrier.
So which dividend wins?
For a retiree living off the checks, I’d take Verizon. Retirees seeking income want a check they can count on, and Verizon’s is bigger, with steadier cash behind it. $10,000 pays $630 a year at its yield, against $260 for ExxonMobil. At their 5-year growth rates, ExxonMobil’s income wouldn’t pass Verizon’s for more than 30 years.
Verizon’s debt is the catch, and it hasn’t come down:
Net debt was 3.0x EBITDA in both fiscal 2021 and fiscal 2025, and it’s 3.3x over the last twelve months, so the deleveraging plan has more work to do. Interest coverage of 4.3x still leaves room.
ExxonMobil’s dividend is plenty safe, with the lower payout ratio and a balance sheet that can carry it through a bad year. It’s just that a 2.6% yield makes a retiree wait decades for the income Verizon pays today.
Of course, Starlink’s mobile push is only getting started. Verizon’s third quarter ended before SpaceX’s spectrum deal, so its fourth-quarter report, due early next year, will give the first read on whether customers are leaving.
Enjoy your retirement in style with these safe 6%+ dividend yields
Dividends can hold the key to enormous wealth. But only if you buy the right ones.
Picking the right high-yield dividend stock can be the difference between a dream retirement…and scraping by every month, waiting for the next Social Security check to clear.
We’ve identified six stocks yielding 6%+ that we believe every retiree should know about right now.
Disclaimer:
Please note that the articles on TIKR are not intended to serve as investment or financial advice from TIKR or our content team, nor are they recommendations to buy or sell any stocks. We create our content based on TIKR Terminal’s investment data and analysts’ estimates. Our analysis might not include recent company news or important updates. TIKR has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading, and happy investing!
