3 High-Yield Dividend Stocks Worth Buying Now

Income investors know the energy and materials sectors can be a minefield. The payouts look generous, but the businesses are often tied to volatile commodities and shifting regulations. To me, the sweet spot is where the distributions are high, but the energy and materials companies themselves keep talking about coverage, growth, and balance sheet health in their own releases. That is usually where a headline yield is more likely to be durable rather than just seductive.

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1. Hess Midstream

Hess Midstream (NYSE: HESM) sits in that camp. In April, the company's board declared a quarterly cash distribution of $0.7792 per Class A share for the first quarter of 2026, noting that this was an increase of just over $0.015 per share from the prior quarter. Management tied that increase to accretive unit repurchases and higher adjusted free cash flow, and then raised its full-year 2026 adjusted free cash flow guidance to $910 million to $960 million.

What caught my eye is the language around distribution growth. Hess Midstream expects its distributions per Class A share to grow at least 5% per year, supported by free cash flow after distributions of roughly $280 million at the midpoint of guidance. When a midstream operator is openly targeting growth and still expects cash left over after paying unitholders, that is a healthier story than a static payout financed by hope.

2. Black Stone Minerals

Black Stone Minerals, L.P. (NYSE: BSM) fits neatly into that "high payout, honest about coverage" bucket. In its first-quarter 2026 release, the partnership declared a $0.30-per-unit distribution and reported a 1.20x coverage ratio, meaning it generated about 20% more distributable cash than it sent to unitholders.

This is the kind of math income investors should want to see from a dividend company in this sector. Because Black Stone is a mineral and royalty owner across a wide set of oil and gas plays, it collects checks without shouldering drilling or operating risk directly, which can make its distributions feel more resilient than a single‑mine or single‑basin producer's payout.

That being said, Black Stone's payout has bounced around over the years, with cuts in 2020 and another step down to $0.30 per unit in 2025 when gas volumes lagged. Since then, the board has held the distribution flat and kept coverage in the 1.05x to 1.20x range. That mix of a high forward yield of around 8% and management's willingness to trim when the math demands it makes the current dividend feel like something actively managed and looked after.

3. Antero Midstream

On the natural gas side, Antero Midstream (NYSE: AM) has quietly built a reputation for steady dividends. In April and July, the board declared cash dividends of $0.225 per share for the first and second quarters of 2026, or $0.90 per share on an annualized basis. The company emphasized that these payments represent the 46th and 47th consecutive quarterly dividends or distributions since its midstream partnership IPO back in 2014.

The company is also buying back stock. Antero Midstream repurchased about 1.0 million shares for $18 million in the first quarter and another 0.4 million shares for roughly $8 million in the second. As a potential shareholder, I like that combination: a midstream business tied to long‑lived gas infrastructure, a dividend habit that has survived multiple gas cycles, and a willingness to reduce the share count when management sees value.

Taken together, these three company give you exposure to midstream energy, coal, and gas infrastructure, all with sizable distributions that their boards continue to describe in terms of growth, coverage, and sustainability. The risk, of course, is that commodity cycles and policy can move against them. But if you are building the income sleeve of a portfolio and want yield backed by real cash, not just marketing, these three companies are worth a hard look right now, with Alliance Resource Partners standing out as the one whose current payout equates to a double-digit yield in today's market.

Micah Zimmerman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.