The Best Stocks to Invest $1,000 in Right Now: 3 High-Quality, Long-Term Dividend Ideas

There are two main things you need to consider when you look at a dividend stock: the stock's yield and the ability of the business to sustain the dividend. Investors often focus too much on the yield and not enough on the integrity of the dividend. Right now, however, you can get attractive and historically well-supported yields from Realty Income (NYSE: O), Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE: EPD), and Texas Instruments (NASDAQ: TXN). Here's a quick look at each of these reliable dividend stocks.

1. Realty Income is a mix of finance and consumer exposure

Realty Income's dividend yield is 4.9%. That yield is backed by a dividend that has been increased every year for three decades. A $1,000 investment will buy you around 15 shares of this net lease real estate investment trust (REIT).

Image source: Getty Images.

Realty Income is an industry giant with over 15,500 single-tenant net-lease properties. Roughly 80% of its rents come from retail assets. This is important because Realty Income provides exposure to both the financial sector and retail. And the dividend is well covered, with an adjusted funds from operations (FFO) payout ratio of 75% in 2025.

Realty Income is so large that growth is likely to be slow over time. However, if you are looking to maximize your income stream while sleeping well at night, this REIT is likely a good fit for your portfolio.

2. Enterprise sidesteps commodity risk

Enterprise Products Partners has a distribution yield of 6%. The distribution has been increased annually for 27 years, which is basically as long as the business has been publicly traded. A $1,000 investment will allow you to buy 27 units.

Enterprise is a midstream master limited partnership (MLP). It operates one of the largest midstream businesses in North America, helping to move oil and natural gas around the world. Energy is vital to the modern world, and every investor should have some exposure to the sector. The problem is that oil and natural gas are highly volatile commodities, so energy stocks can be volatile, too. Enterprise is just a toll taker, charging customers fees for the use of its energy infrastructure assets. The reliable fees it generates provide a smooth ride for the distribution, with distributable cash flow covering the distribution 1.7 times in 2025. That leaves plenty of room for adversity before a distribution cut would be in the cards.

Like Realty Income, Enterprise is basically a slow-growth business. That said, slow and steady is hard to complain about when it comes with a 6% yield.

3. Texas Instruments is investing in growth

Texas Instruments has a yield of 2.6%, which is well below the yields of the other two income options above. However, the chip giant's yield is toward the high side of its historical yield range. The dividend has been increased annually for 22 years.

Texas Instruments is one of the world's largest producers of analog computer chips. Analog chips are simple and cheap, turning physical events into digital signals (think pushing a button). The chips are found in everything digital. Although AI is the big story right now, the need for Texas Instruments chips is likely to keep growing as the world becomes increasingly digital. AI is only going to speed up that process; note that Texas Instruments recently began breaking out data centers as a stand-alone customer group. Sales in the data centers group increased 70% year over year in the fourth quarter of 2025.

Technology is a sector many dividend investors avoid because growth tends to be the big tech story. However, Texas Instruments is currently offering dividend lovers a chance to up their tech exposure. And, notably, you aren't giving up on growth, as the company is in the middle of a capital investment period that it believes will prepare it for higher future demand. That spending has investors worried, but a successful history suggests this tech giant is likely expanding its capacity in a timely and reasonable manner.

Buy and hold for the long term

Realty Income, Enterprise Products Partners, and Texas Instruments are all reliable dividend stocks. They all have attractive yields. And they are the kinds of businesses you buy and then hold for years, either letting the dividends compound via dividend reinvestment or using the growing income stream you create to augment your income or your Social Security in retirement. If you have $1,000 to put to work right now, your hardest decision is likely to be which one of these high-yielders to buy. Of course, you could punt and put a little into each one, too.

Reuben Gregg Brewer has positions in Realty Income and Texas Instruments. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Realty Income and Texas Instruments. The Motley Fool recommends Enterprise Products Partners. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.