My Top Dividend Stock To Buy In July
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As a Las Vegas local, I'm fortunate enough to live only about 20 minutes from the Strip. My wife and I still find ourselves heading down there once or twice a month, and unlike many locals, the Strip's novelty hasn't worn off for me yet.
There truly is no other place in the world quite like Las Vegas, which is why people travel from all over the world to experience it. I think it's incredibly cool to live a stone's throw away from such a spectacle, which includes some of the world's most iconic resorts — places like MGM Grand, Caesars Palace, and The Venetian.
Interestingly, these legendary spots, along with other major hotels like Mandalay Bay, New York-New York, Excalibur, Luxor, and the new Hard Rock Hotel (coming soon), are all owned by one company: VICI Properties (VICI), which is my top dividend stock to buy in July (you can learn about some of my other top picks here).
VICI Properties was established in 2017 as a spin-off from Caesars Entertainment during its bankruptcy reorganization. Today, it's one of the world's largest experiential real estate investment trusts and, at least so far, it's been a very solid high-yield dividend grower.
Source: Fiscal.AI
Unfortunately, 2026 hasn't been very kind to VICI's share price. The stock is down about 4% over the past month and 5.6% year-to-date. At around $26 per share, this is the lowest we’ve seen the share price in about five years.
Over those five years, the share price is down about 14%, which I think is pretty incredible considering what's been happening under the hood during that time.
Source: Investor Presentation
One of the most important metrics for REIT investors is AFFO per share (Adjusted Funds From Operations per share), which you can think of as the REIT equivalent of free cash flow.
As you can see from the chart above, VICI has increased its AFFO per share every single year since 2019, typically at a mid-single-digit rate. In other words, the business has continued growing even while the share price hasn’t.
At first glance, that probably doesn't make much sense. But while market movements aren’t always super rational, I do think a few catalysts are working against VICI right now, with one of them being interest rates.
You see, higher rates make it more expensive for REITs to borrow money, and borrowing money is one way companies like VICI can acquire more properties, expand their portfolio, and continue growing the business.
When interest rates go up — as many investors currently expect them to do again this year — it can have a negative impact on the profits (or AFFO) that REITs are able to generate.
In addition to interest rate concerns, there have also been lingering concerns surrounding Las Vegas tourism. Visitor traffic was down about 7.5% in 2025, and one of the more common sentiments getting regurgitated is that "Vegas is dead."
Source: LVCVA
However, based on both the numbers and my firsthand experience living here, I can tell you with confidence that Las Vegas is far from dead or dying.
The city still welcomes close to 40 million visitors every year, and convention attendance in 2026 is actually running about 10% above last year's levels. You can check out all of the city’s visitation numbers here.
With that, there are also concerns surrounding some of VICI's largest tenants. Both Caesars and MGM have been involved in acquisition discussions recently, causing some investors to wonder whether those transactions might impact VICI's lease agreements.
Personally, I don't view that as a major risk. Perhaps I’m too naive, but my thought is that these are multi-decade triple-net leases, and any new owners of Caesars and MGM will simply inherit those agreements when they take over.
Hypothetically, if lease terms are ever adjusted — which certainly isn't impossible — VICI won't be giving something away for nothing.
And as a long-term shareholder, I would be perfectly comfortable with adjustments that benefit both VICI and its tenants over the long run. At the end of the day, their incentives are aligned.
VICI wants successful properties and successful tenants, and its tenants benefit from having a landlord that is motivated to support their long-term success. It isn’t necessarily a zero-sum game.
Source: Fiscal.AI
Now, on the dividend side of things, VICI has increased its dividend every single year since inception and, thanks to the recent share price slump, investors today can pick up shares with a yield of around 6.6% — way above the company's historical average yield.
All in all, I think VICI looks like a fantastic opportunity right now, especially for investors who prioritize income generation in their portfolios.
Personally, I would love to own more shares myself, but VICI already generates close to 10% of my taxable account's total dividend income, making it the single largest income generator in my portfolio.
I don't want that position to become too overweight, so unfortunately, I'm holding off on adding more shares at the moment. If that weren't the case, though, I'd be loading the boat at these prices (and still might not be able to resist adding a few shares here and there).
With that said, VICI isn't the only attractive buying opportunity out there right now. There are plenty of other stocks out there that look interesting, and I'd love to hear from you: Which discounted stocks do you have your eye on as we jump into July?
Write to me here and let me know.
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ICYMI 🎥
Why So Many People Are Miserable At Work
More people than ever seem to be questioning their careers and rethinking what success means to them. In this video, I reacted to a handful of other videos covering this trend and shared some thoughts from my own experience along the way.
CAREFULLY CURATED 🔍
📺 Professor G's Portfolio - My good friend Professor G opens up his entire investment portfolio, sharing exactly what he owns and why he owns it.
🎧 Caesars Sold - Caesars Entertainment is making moves, and VICI investors should be paying close attention. This episode of the Dapper Dividends podcast covers the news and what it might mean for VICI going forward.
📚 From Casinos to the Caribbean - Speaking of VICI, the company recently announced a new partnership with Club Med to redevelop a resort in St. Croix. Here are the details.
SINCE YOU ASKED 💬
“How have you been balancing having a kid with investing?"
- JP Investing | YouTube
To my surprise, it's been incredibly easy to balance investing with having a baby. I'm going to knock on wood as I write this, but parenthood has not been a huge burden on the wallet…so far.
In the nine months that we've been parents (I can't believe it's already been nine months!), the biggest expense by far has been the hospital bills. With the help of health insurance, those ended up being a few thousand dollars, which wasn't too bad.
Beyond that, the biggest ongoing expenses have just been things like diapers, wipes, and baby food. There are other miscellaneous things that pop up, but thankfully, nothing has been astronomically expensive so far.
Even better, we've been able to start investing for our daughter as well. Right now, she's getting $100 per month into both her custodial brokerage account and her 529 plan, and she's already sitting at around $1,800 between the two accounts. I'd say she's off to a great start.
With all of that said, we're obviously still very early in the parenting journey, and I know things will change as she gets older. We live pretty well within our means though, so I think we're in a good position to absorb additional expenses as they come along.
In the meantime, our goal is to stack as many assets as we possibly can. Before having a baby, we were certainly motivated to do so, but after actually becoming parents, meeting our baby, and being able to spend as much time with her as we have, that motivation is higher than ever.
Becoming a parent makes you realize how fast time really does fly (seriously, I can't believe it's already been nine months), and how important it is to have as much control over your time as possible.
Our baby is growing up so fast, and financial freedom seriously can't come fast enough.
Have a question? Ask me here to see it featured in an upcoming newsletter.
LAST WORD 👋
In case you missed this week's ICYMI section, I just started a brand new YouTube channel where I react to personal finance, investing, and money-related content from around the internet.
So far, I only have three videos out on the channel, but I'll definitely be publishing more on there over time.
