More Than Yield: 5 Stocks Beating the Market and Hiking Dividends

Key Points

• While high-yield stocks can offer a strong and stable source of return, they often lack much upside potential.
• These dividend-paying stocks are offering strong total returns in 2025 that are beating the market.
• They also just lifted dividends by 10% or more, following through on their commitments to return capital to shareholders.

While high dividend yields are enticing to many investors, the more relevant measurement of success of any stock is its total return. Total return includes a stock's dividend yield, as well as the change in share price. These two sources of return often work against each other; as shares fall, dividend yields rise, and vice versa.

Below, we’ll detail five stocks that are working to deliver on both return sources. They are performing well in 2025, with their total returns beating out the overall market. They are also making strong progress in boosting their dividends, with all five recently announcing significant dividend increases of 10% or more.

FIX Can’t Raise Its Dividend Fast Enough

On July 24, Comfort Systems USA NYSE: FIX announced a 10% increase to its quarterly dividend. Its new $0.50 payment will be payable on Aug. 25 to shareholders of record on Aug. 15.

Despite this significant increase, the stock has an indicated dividend yield of just under 0.3%. However, the company’s low dividend yield hasn’t come due to a lack of effort to raise it. 

Since the beginning of 2022, Comfort Systems has raised its dividend more than ten times, and its quarterly payout has nearly quadrupled. 

However, the firm’s dividend boosts simply haven’t been able to keep up with the stock’s more than 600% rise since the beginning of 2022, pushing its yield down. In 2025 alone, shares are up around 64%.

This surge in price reflects strong earnings momentum and investor confidence.

While the yield remains low, the company’s consistent dividend growth signals a commitment to returning capital, making it attractive to long-term investors.

WING’s 11% Boost: The Latest Step in Its Strong Dividend Growth Trajectory

Next up is Wingstop NASDAQ: WING. The stock has managed to perform well in 2025, providing a total return of nearly 28%.

Shares spiked after the company's latest earnings.

Wingstop saw its adjusted earnings per share increase in the quarter while analysts expected the figure to fall.

Adding to the good news was that Wingstop announced an 11% increase in its quarterly dividend. 

The stock only has an indicated dividend yield of just over 0.3%, but Wingstop has made strong progress in growing its dividend over the past three years.

Its quarterly payout has increased by a compound annual growth rate of more than 16% over that period.

Wingstop’s strong performance reflects growing investor confidence and robust earnings momentum. Its consistent dividend increases—even with a modest yield—demonstrate a clear commitment to returning capital and supporting shareholder value.

For long-term investors, the combination of growth and income makes Wingstop a noteworthy holding.

MCK Announces Another 15% Dividend Increase

Healthcare stock McKesson NYSE: MCK also recently announced an increase to its dividend, boosting its quarterly payout by 15%.

This raises the company’s dividend to 82 cents, which will be payable on Oct. 1 to stockholders of record on Sept. 2.

The stock's indicated dividend yield now sits at just under 0.5%. Still, the firm continues to announce big-time dividend increases year after year. 

This most recent raise marks the fourth year in a row the company has boosted its dividend by 15%, showing its increasing commitment to returning capital to shareholders.

Impressively, McKesson stock has provided a total return of around 23% in 2025.

McKesson’s track record of raising its dividend at a steady pace underscores its financial strength and commitment to shareholders. Even with a modest yield, the consistency of these increases adds long-term value.

Coupled with its solid performance in 2025, the stock remains a strong healthcare sector performer.

EHC’s Dividend Is in Recovery Mode

On July 24, Encompass Health NYSE: EHC announced a nearly 12% increase to its dividend, boosting its quarterly payment to 19 cents per share.

The new dividend is payable on Oct. 15 to holders of record on Oct. 1, and gives the stock an indicated dividend yield of 0.70%.

Encompass has also managed to notch a total return of more than 18% in 2025.

The company is gradually rebuilding its dividend after a significant cut in 2022, which followed the spin-off of part of its business.

The consistent increases since then suggest a renewed focus on long-term capital returns.

With operational stability improving, investors could see the dividend climb back toward pre-2022 levels.

WELL’s 1.8% Yield Tops List, Holds 33% Return in 2025

Last up is healthcare real estate investment trust (REIT) Welltower NYSE: WELL.

The company is lifting its quarterly dividend by 10.4% to 74 cents per share.

The company will pay this dividend on Aug. 21 to stockholders of record as of Aug. 12. 

The stock holds the highest indicated dividend yield on our list of just under 1.8%. Still, this yield is the lowest among large-cap U.S. healthcare REITs, whose average yield is approximately 5.1%.

However, Welltower has also achieved by far the most impressive total return among that group in 2025 of over 33%.

Investors appear to be rewarding the company’s improving fundamentals and consistent dividend growth.

With the stock showing strong price performance, further yield compression is possible even as payouts rise.

Dividend Increases Strengthen Total Return Potential

Overall, these five names are taking key steps when it comes to income generation: increasing their dividends. This is particularly important for these names, as they have seen significant share price appreciation recently.

Dividend boosts help offset the decline in dividend yields that comes due to rising share prices. This gives these names the opportunity to have dividends as a meaningful part of their overall return profile going forward.