This does not at all sound stupid, given how many thousands of public companies pay dividends. Throwing darts won't get er done.
If you go to the dripinvesting dot org I listed above, you can see the published yield and so much more to help you select companies. The nice thing about the CCC list is that it tracks companies that have increased their div rate every year for many consecutive years (div rate = dividend per share). Do not be overwhelmed by the spreadsheet, as it has A Lot of info that you might not be into trying to make sense of immediately, but many of the leftmost columns will be most helpful immediately. It is updated monthly.
Yield is the metric you are looking for - copied from Investopedia:
Stock Yields
In regards to a stock, there are two
stock dividend yields. If you buy a stock for $30 (cost basis) and its
current price and annual dividend are $33 and $1, respectively, the cost yield will be 3.3% ($1/$30) and the current yield will be 3% ($1/$33).
Some people would define high yield as yielding above SP500, if you desire a rule of thumb. I will guess that is in the 2-2.5% range currently but I don't really pay attention to it. Do note that really high yield can be a warning but it might just be a screaming bargain. If a company is currently not in favor, price can depress, which increases yield. This is naturally so because the metric is dependent upon the price. Macy's is yielding just over 5% right now, and I consider that high yield for that company. It is in disfavor currently and could be seriously on the ropes in a another couple years. Apple, by contrast, is yielding under 2%, fairly normal for this company, which I consider to be quite durable over the long term.
I would urge you to focus on the financials and strength of the company vs trying to get highest dividend possible. That said, starting with the CCC gives you A Lot of candidates to choose from. If you stick with the Champions tab, you have at your fingertips the cream of the crop. The most recent raise column could astound you, if, like me, div raises are higher than your last many job raises. It can be a lovely surprise to get a raise above 20%, which is somewhat rare but I've had several in the last few years, and otherwise plenty of dbl digit raises. More normal across my companies is 3-5% annual but I welcome even 1% (I think that was last PG raise). Utilities generally don't grant large raises, in my experience, but I consider them steady eddies as no matter the economic climate, people are going to use water, electricity, gas. I do not yet consider telecom to be utilities but some people do consider ATT and Verizon to be utes. I don't lump them together because the regulatory bodies are much different than for traditional utes.
Just please don't fall into the trap of thinking past indicates future because it doesn't. The Champions tab shows companies with a couple decades of raises and many of these companies have made shareholders a priority so lends a bit of extra confidence that what goes up will keep going up, but there are no guarantees. Things change, divs can cut or suspend. Yes, this has happened with a very few of my companies over the years, and at least 2 of those I bought after filling my portfolio with blue chips; I knew the risks of speculating so not a crisis by any means. No bankruptcy in sight, they just needed to keep the cash vs share it. Whatever you invest in, do monitor it. The higher quality of company you own, the better you will sleep. Don't over-monitor, tho, as that can increase your stress ; )
Ask anything you want, there are no stupid questions, and I understand that investing can be complicated and scary. I forget that since I've been at it a while and have largely removed emotion from it for myself, but I understand others still get very nervous when the market corrects or even mild price decrease after they have bought. Dipping a toe into investing directly in a company vs funds can feel daunting, but, honestly, it isn't, and in fact I find it a lot of fun and indeed put my money where my mouth is, by owning a lot of food-related companies. Again, no matter the economic climate, people gotta eat. They will also keep buying toilet paper, toothpaste, deodorant, etc. It took me years to get Kimberly-Clark at a decent valuation but I am now very happy to have PG, Colgate-Palmolive and KMB, what I consider the grand trio of consumer staples.
Good investing to you!
