Key Points
Dividends are the passive income you receive from owning stocks or ETFs.
SPYD tracks the top 80 high-dividend-yielding companies in the S&P 500.
At SPYD's current yield, you'd need to own over 250 shares.
One of the better parts of investing in stocks is the passive income you can receive from owning dividend stocks or exchange-traded funds (ETFs). It's a way of receiving value from your stocks without relying solely on stock price appreciation, though both are appreciated.
A popular go-to dividend ETF is the SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 High Dividend ETF (NYSEMKT: SPYD), which has a trailing yield of 4.46% at the time of this writing. At that yield, you'd need to own about 256 shares of SPYD to receive $500 in annual dividend income. At its current price of $43.86 per share, that would cost you around $11,210.
Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Continue »
Image source: Getty Images.
SPYD's 4.46% dividend yield is among the higher yields you'll find in a broad dividend ETF, but it makes sense given that the ETF tracks the top 80 high-dividend-yielding companies in the S&P 500 (an index of the 500 largest American companies).
By investing in a high-yielding dividend ETF like SPYD, you get a payout that's close to four times higher than the S&P 500 average, exposure to 78 companies spanning all 11 major U.S. sectors, and a cheap ETF whose expense ratio is only 0.07%. The latter works out to paying only $0.70 per $1,000 invested in SPYD, which is easily made up by the dividends you receive.
Should you invest $1,000 in SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 High Dividend ETF right now?
Before you buy stock in SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 High Dividend ETF, consider this:
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 High Dividend ETF wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $540,587!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,118,210!*
Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 991% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 195% for the S&P 500. Don’t miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor.
See the 10 stocks »
*Stock Advisor returns as of December 1, 2025
Stefon Walters 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.