3 Ultra-High Dividend Yield Picks for the New Year

Besides the short-term potential for passive income, dividend stocks appeal to investors for their potential to magnify price appreciation thanks to reinvesting opportunities. In fact, dividend payers can manage to outperform other stocks even if their price does not go up—in a volatile market, for example, steady distributions can be used to buy up more shares of a dividend name for an amplified return. This is a big part of the reason why dividends have contributed almost a third of the return of the S&P 500 since its early days as a 90-stock index in the 1920s.

No wonder, then, that investors often seek out strong dividend names to round out their portfolios. As it comes time to rebalance for the new year, the following three ultra-high-yield dividend names may stand out from the crowd.

Hafnia's Dividend Yield Is One of Many Potential Perks

Petroleum shipping firm Hafnia (NYSE: HAFN) has, like many other companies in its industry, a tendency to pay out substantial dividends when times are good. Just taking a look at its dividend payments this year alone, it's clear how much distributions can shift from one quarter to the next: in February, Hafnia paid a dividend of just under 3 cents per share, while the most recent payment in early December was nearly 15 cents.

All of this means that Hafnia's dividend yield—a measure of its dividend payment per share divided by its current stock price—is exceptionally high heading into the new year, especially because HAFN shares have actually fallen slightly year-to-date (YTD).

Macro headwinds related to inflation, petroleum product pricing, and geopolitical instability threaten the shipping business. However, Hafnia seems to be navigating the challenges successfully. It achieved a net profit of $91.5 million last quarter with $150.5 million adjusted EBITDA, ending the quarter with more than $630 million in total liquidity. It is managing its fleet prudently, having repurchased 14 vessels from sale-and-leaseback arrangements during the period. For these reasons, analysts see shares of Hafnia climbing by more than 14%, making it a potential growth play as well as a dividend one.

Spok's Products Are Strong, But Is Its Dividend Too Ambitious?

Healthcare messaging and communication flow company Spok Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: SPOK) is modest in size—its market capitalization is just $270 million—but that has not stopped it from achieving a dividend yield of 9.52% thanks to payments of more than 31 cents per share most recently. Despite the fact that it made a marginal decrease to its distribution early in the year, its five-year annualized dividend growth rate is high at more than 20%.

Spok's real strength is its product lineup, and in particular its software and managed services. Both have experienced strong growth throughout the year in terms of revenue and adoption. Spok's clients are hospitals—about 2,200 of them as of the latest quarterly report—and its products are sticky, with promising retention and client stability.

To be sure, as a dividend player Spok is somewhat more risky than some alternatives. Its dividend yield is high at more than 156%, and the firm has to balance payouts with its own R&D expenses and revenue that came in slightly below expectations last quarter. Still, analysts are optimistic about this company, labeling it a Strong Buy and expecting shares to climb more than 52% to $20 each.

Is Sky-High Dividend Growth for CVR Sustainable?

CVR Partners L.P. (NYSE: UAN) produces nitrogen fertilizer products for use by the agriculture industry.

Thanks to a dividend that jumped from $1.19 per share in October 2024 all the way to $4.02 per share in October 2025, CVR now has a massive dividend yield approaching 17%.

The dividend increase goes along with an impressive track record of recent performance: CVR achieved net sales of $164 million in the last quarter, thanks to significant increases in the price of ammonia and other related products.

Still, there may be concern that CVR has boosted its dividend by too much and too quickly, as the firm has a dividend payout ratio of close to 134%.

Investors willing to take a chance on its continued success—and the sizable passive income stream it could continue to generate—may be rewarded.

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The article "3 Ultra-High Dividend Yield Picks for the New Year" first appeared on MarketBeat.