The Smartest Dividend Stock to Buy With $100 Right Now

Who doesn’t love a good dividend stock?

I don’t know about you, but I love investments I don’t need to watch very closely, and dividend payers fit the bill nicely. You buy some shares, set up a dividend reinvestment plan (DRIP), and let them sit and compound for years to come.

Will AI create the world’s first trillionaire? Our team just released a report on the one little-known company, called an “Indispensable Monopoly” providing the critical technology Nvidia and Intel both need. Continue »

The only problem is that many dividend stocks are fairly pricey on a per-share basis. That can make it difficult to build up the number of shares needed to make a dividend play work relatively quickly.

But that’s not a problem for VICI Properties (NYSE: VICI), and that’s why it’s one of the best dividend stocks under $100 right now.

Rendering dividends unto Caesar

VICI Properties is a gambling-focused real estate investment trust (REIT) named after a quote by the namesake of its most famous property, Caesars Palace on the Vegas Strip. It owns several other iconic Vegas locations, including the MGM Grand and Venetian Resort.

But those are just a fraction of the company’s 61 gambling locations, 39 non-gambling entertainment properties, and four golf courses that it rents to 15 of the top casino operators and entertainment companies in the world.

VICI’s two largest tenants are Caesars Entertainment and MGM Resorts, but the company has 100% occupancy across all of its properties.

As a REIT, VICI is required to pay out 90% of its taxable income to shareholders in the form of a dividend. Right now, that dividend yields 6.35%, and VICI has a payout ratio of 61.25%, so it hasn’t had any trouble managing its payments or raising them like it has done every year since it went public in 2018.

And at just shy of $30 per share, it doesn’t cost much to build a large position and start raking in sizable dividend payments from VICI.

Moving past the dividend, VICI posted solid Q1 2026 results on April 29. The quarter saw the company’s revenue hit $1 billion, up 3.5% over Q1 2025, and the company’s adjusted funds from operations (AFFO) grew 5.7% over Q1 2025 to hit $650.9 million.

On top of that, the company maintains a jaw-dropping net profit margin of 78% (up from 70.36% at the end of 2025) and a healthy total debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62.

So, if you’re looking for a reliable dividend stock with a regularly growing annual dividend that won’t cost you an arm and a leg to open a large position in, consider VICI Properties.

Should you buy stock in Vici Properties right now?

Before you buy stock in Vici Properties, consider this:

The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Vici Properties wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.

Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $471,827!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,319,291!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 986% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 207% for the S&P 500. Don’t miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor, and join an investing community built by individual investors for individual investors.

See the 10 stocks »

*Stock Advisor returns as of May 9, 2026.

James Hires has positions in Vici Properties. The Motley Fool recommends Vici Properties. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

The Smartest Dividend Stock to Buy With $100 Right Now was originally published by The Motley Fool