Step Aside, ExxonMobil: 2 Foundational AI Stocks Now Pay Larger Dividends

Though there is no shortage of ways to make money on Wall Street, buying and holding high-quality dividend stocks is near the top of the list. In "The Power of Dividends: Past, Present, and Future," the analysts at Hartford Funds, in collaboration with Ned Davis Research, found that dividend stocks crushed non-payers in average annual return from 1973-2025 (9.2% vs. 4.21%).

Historically, oil stocks like ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM) have been top-tier sources of income. ExxonMobil's $4.12/share annual dividend equates to more than $16.9 billion in payouts. But you might be surprised to learn that two of Wall Street's foundational artificial intelligence (AI) stocks -- Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) -- have leapfrogged ExxonMobil in annual payouts.

Image source: Getty Images.

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