You’ll find that the stocks below are sporting some pretty nice dividends, but don’t just dive into one of the stocks listed below without doing first the necessary due diligence required. Some of these stocks could see their dividends slashed in the coming months if the market sells-off like it did back in August — but no one knows for sure, and that is why, with anything, you have to weigh the risk and reward before placing the bet.

On a side note, I would say this particular stock screen elicits a lot of controversy about the quality of the dividends, and whether they are dependable. I realize that not all of these companies are going to be able to keep the high dividend that they are paying out — I’m just trying to give you some ideas for you to generate fixed incomes in a bad economy. I can tell you this though, stocks such as NLY are fairly good dividend plays. On the other hand from what I’ve read and heard, WHX’s dividend is very questionable in regards to its sustainability.

So caution is urged on EVERY ONE of the stocks listed below. Heck, every trade in general you make requires you to take caution. Oh, and if it trades below $5 or on a perpetual down-trend, I left it out of the screen results.

Here are the 16 highest paying dividend stocks.

American Capital Agency Corp. (NASDAQ: AGNC) – dividend yield 19.84%

Cypress Sharpridge Investments (NYSE: CYS) – dividend yield 17.03%

Resource Capital Corp. (NYSE: RSO) – dividend yield 15.92%

Annaly Capital Management Inc. (NYSE: NLY) – dividend yield 15.22%

Hatteras Financial Corp. (NYSE: HTS) – dividend yield 14.87%

Two Harbors Investment Corp. (AMEX: TWO) – dividend yield 14.47%

Anworth Mortgage Asset Corp. (NYSE: ANH) – dividend yield 14.45%

Invesco Mortgage Capital Inc. (NYSE: IVR) – dividend yield 13.71%

Whiting USA Trust I (NYSE: WHX) – dividend yield 13.60%

Alpine Total Dynamic Dividend F (NYSE: AOD) – dividend yield 12.20%

Kohlberg Capital Corporation (NASDAQ: KCAP) – dividend yield 12.19%

Prospect Capital Corporation (NASDAQ: PSEC) – dividend yield 12.16%

Walter Investment Management Group. (NYSE: WAC) – dividend yield 11.76%

Fifth Street finance Corp. (NYSE: FSC) – dividend yield 11.45%

Capstead Mortgage Corp. (NYSE: CMO) – dividend yield 9.39%

This article is from SharePlanner.com. Learn more about author Ryan Mallory here.

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