A large-cap midstream energy partnership operating natural gas gathering and processing plants, natural gas liquids fractionation facilities, and crude oil and refined product pipelines has earned an increased position in the Best High Dividend Stocks Portfolio. The partnership carries a forward dividend yield of 7.68%, placing it in the top 20% of all dividend-paying stocks and more than a full percentage point above the 6.5% average for its energy MLP peer group. This yield is backed by a fee-based revenue model that generates cash flows largely independent of commodity price swings, and management has made unusually explicit commitments to 12.5% distribution growth in both 2026 and 2027, a level of forward guidance that is rare among infrastructure operators of this scale.
The partnership’s growth strategy is anchored in expanding its natural gas and liquids value chain from wellhead production in the Permian Basin all the way through fractionation and export at the Gulf Coast, a vertically integrated approach that positions it to capture the structural tailwind from rising domestic natural gas demand driven by data center buildout and electrification. In the first quarter of 2026, the business generated $1.41 billion in distributable cash flow, covering its distribution at 1.3x, and management characterized the period as a transition quarter with major new processing plants scheduled to come online through the second half of the year.
Key risks include near-term earnings variability tied to NGL prices, a customer base that is concentrated with its affiliated parent refiner, and the execution demands of a $2.4 billion annual capital program with several projects still in the construction phase.
Increasing the position in this partnership within the Best High Dividend Stocks Portfolio reflects the portfolio’s mandate to own high-income assets where the yield is not only elevated but supported by durable, growing cash flows. A decade of consecutive distribution increases, a clear capital deployment roadmap, and an overall Buy rating ranking first among energy MLPs in Dividend.com’s high-yield framework all point to an income holding that earns its place on fundamental grounds.
