Here are four well-known companies that recently had hefty dividend yields. You might want to consider some for your portfolio or your watch list.

Verizon Communications Inc. will extend its lead as the highest-yielding component within the Dow Jones Industrial Average as it plans its yearly dividend hike. The telecommunications company announced Wednesday afternoon that it will boost its quarterly dividend to 67.

As economic sentiments fluctuate, high-dividend stocks are the only ones that provide cushion regardless of the situation. To capture the steady market, you might consider investing in Verizon Communications (VZ),

After underperforming over the past few years, these stocks offer huge dividend yields that could keep rising throughout your retirement.

Ford is one of the many stocks on this list of the best dividend stocks in the S&P 500 that have seen shares slump lately. Its struggles to enter the electric vehicle market are pretty well known, but the recent news that it was canceling its EV SUV plans – and writing off $1.9 billion to do it – went over like a lead balloon in August.

Well-chosen dividend stocks can help you build bountiful streams of passive income that you can count on to grow steadily year after year. To aid your search for these wealth-builders, here are two high-yield stocks with proven histories of rewarding their investors with ample and dependable dividends.

These energy stocks can produce prodigious amounts of passive income over the next 10 years. The average dividend stock currently yields less than 1.5% based on the S&P 500's dividend yield. That's well below the historical average of more than 4% over the long term because many companies have deemphasized dividends in recent years.