10 Best Monthly Dividend Stocks in Canada (Feb 2023)

Are you looking for monthly income-paying investments outside of traditional fixed income like GICs or bonds?

There are certain stocks that pay more frequent dividends which can be a great addition to an income-focused portfolio.

Approximately 2% of dividend-paying, publicly-traded stocks pay their dividends on a monthly basis.

We will cover the best monthly dividend stocks in Canada below, and discuss some of their features in more detail.

Pros and Cons of Monthly Dividend Stocks

Stocks that pay income on a monthly basis have their advantages and disadvantages for investors.

What Canadian Companies Pay Monthly Dividends?

This is a full list of all Canadian companies that issue monthly dividends. This list does not include REITs (I have added those at the bottom of the article)

Company	Ticker	Market Cap	Dividend Yield (12-Month Trailing)
Atrium Mortgage Investment Corporation	AI.TO	$497.19 Million	7.79%
A&W Revenue Royalties Income Fund	AW-UN.TO	$546.38 Million	4.98%
Badger Infrastructure Solutions Ltd.	BDGI.TO	$1.11 Billion	1.62%
Boston Pizza Royalties Income Fund	BPF-UN.TO	$358.76 Million	1.53%
Bridgemarq Real Estate Services Inc.	BRE.TO	$128.79 Million	9.9%
Chemtrade Logistics Income Fund	CHE-UN.TO	$1.16 Billion	6.01%
Chesswood Group Limited	CHW.TO	$200.10 Million	3.91%
Exchange Income Corporation	EIF.TO	$2.32 Billion	4.27%
Extendicare Inc.	EXE.TO	$566.59 Million	7.16%
First National Financial Corporation	FN.TO	$2.31 Billion	6.11%
Freehold Royalties Ltd.	FRU.TO	$2.35 Billion	5.66%
Global Water Resources, Inc.	GWR.TO	$470.42 Million	1.5%
The Keg Royalties Income Fund	KEG-UN.TO	$182.79 Million	7.05%
Keyera Corp.	KEY.TO	$6.85 Billion	6.46%
Mullen Group Ltd.	MTL.TO	$1.33 Billion	4.34%
Northland Power Inc.	NPI.TO	$8.45 Billion	3.38%
Peyto Exploration & Development Corp.	PEY.TO	$2.02 Billion	4.71%
Parkland Corporation	PKI.TO	$5.40 Billion	4.09%
Pembina Pipeline Corporation	PPL.TO	$25.63 Billion	5.47%
Pizza Pizza Royalty Corp.	PZA.TO	$455.31 Million	5.45%
TransAlta Renewables Inc.	RNW.TO	$3.22 Billion	7.74%
Richards Packaging Income Fund	RPI-UN.TO	$479.44 Million	3.14%
Savaria Corporation	SIS.TO	$973.07 Million	3.33%
Superior Plus Corp.	SPB.TO	$2.07 Billion	7.07%
Whitecap Resources Inc.	WCP.TO	$6.47 Billion	3.3%
Diversified Royalty Corp.	DIV.TO	$456.06 Million	6.8%
Sierra Senior Living Inc.	SIA.TO	$892.29 Million	7.6%

The Best Monthly Dividend Stocks in Canada

1. Pembina Pipeline Corp

Pembina is a Canadian pipeline and midstream firm that owns natural gas liquid pipelines and oil pipelines. They also own processing facilities and other infrastructure within the midstream space. 

The midstream space within the oil and gas sector refers to companies that transport oil and gas from their source (wells) to consumers and businesses. 

Pembina is also listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker PBA, allowing you to invest with US dollars.

Currently, higher oil prices and oil demand are a positive tailwind for Pembina going forward.

The company pays an excellent dividend but comes with a high payout ratio, meaning that a dividend decrease in the future is likely. With that said, Pembina has a long track record of paying dividends to investors.

As a large, well-established company, Pembina is an excellent choice to consider as a monthly dividend stock here in Canada.

2. Keyera Corp.

Keyera is one of the largest Canadian midstream natural gas companies. It is involved in natural gas gathering, processing, transporting, storing, and marketing.

Keyera operates the largest iso-octane manufacturing plant in the world, through its Alberta Envirofuels facility. The company is also heavily focused on ESG metrics and responsible business operations.

The company pays a very high dividend yield to investors on a monthly basis. 

Although the dividend can be considered relatively more sustainable than Pembina’s (on a payout ratio basis), Keyera still has a very high payout ratio. This can lead to dividend decreases in the future.

With demand for midstream infrastructure likely to be strong in the future, Keyera is well positioned to benefit.

If you are looking for a midstream company with a high monthly dividend, Keyera Corp is an excellent choice.

3. Whitecap Resources Inc

Whitecap is a Canadian exploration and production company headquartered in Calgary. 

The firm is highly focused on ESG, storing more carbon dioxide than it emits corporately. It has released sustainability reports in 2018, 2020, and 2021.

The company’s current operations are entirely focused on Western Canada. The company’s portfolio of assets has a stable production of oil and gas, enabling the company to pay investors dividends on a monthly basis.

Whitecap ships and sells oil all over Canada.

Whitecap pays a great dividend yield with a low payout ratio, making the current dividend level highly sustainable going into the future.

If you are looking for a Canadian oil and gas name heavily focused on responsible operations and that pays monthly dividends, Whitecap is a great stock to consider.

4. TransAlta Renewables Inc.

TransAlta Renewables operates hydro, wind, and solar facilities across Canada and the US. TransAlta Corporation maintains a 60% ownership interest in TransAlta Renewables and intends to be a long-term majority shareholder.

TransAlta corporation takes care of handling TransAlta Renewables’ employee management and operations in exchange for a management fee.

Since a lot of RNW’s operations are currently under long-term contracts, this increases the sustainability of the dividend into the future.

TransAlta Renewables pays a great dividend with a very high current payout ratio. This does put the dividend at risk of being decreased going forward. The company pays its dividend to shareholders on a monthly basis and recently suspended its dividend reinvestment plan.

TransAlta Renewables is a great name to consider adding to your portfolio if you are looking for a clean energy company that pays a monthly dividend.

5. First National Financial Corp.

First National is the largest non-bank firm within the prime mortgage space in Canada for both commercial and residential clients.

The company currently has a small float, with insiders owning over 70% of the company’s outstanding shares. Although this is a positive growth signal for the future of the company, it also makes the company’s stock more illiquid. 

First National trades at a premium valuation when compared to its peers due to favourable investment characteristics and its leadership position in the space (outside of banks).

The stock pays a very high monthly dividend and has a fairly high payout ratio. While the ratio is not as high as some of the other names on this list, it may put the dividend at risk of decreasing in the future.

First National is a great company within the financials space to consider for a monthly dividend stock portfolio.

6. Freehold Royalties Ltd.

Freehold is a Canadian company focused on mineral titles and royalties on oil and gas properties across North America. Freehold does own some operating assets within the oil and natural gas space, but this accounts for less than 1% of total operating income.

The company’s royalty properties are well diversified across over 300 industry operators, reducing risk for investors and stabilizing cashflows.

The company pays an extremely high dividend to investors on a monthly basis. Freehold’s payout ratio is fairly high, meaning that its high dividend rate could come under pressure in the future.

Given Freehold’s quality assets and well-diversified portfolio, it trades at a premium valuation relative to peers across several metrics.

If you are looking for a quality growth name to include in a monthly dividend stock portfolio, Freehold Royalties is an excellent choice with a high yield.

7. Savaria Corporation

Savaria is a mobility company focused on producing home elevators, commercial lifts, stairlifts, ceiling lifts, and adapted vehicles. The company’s manufacturing is located in several parts around the world, with facilities in Europe, North America, and China.

The company has numerous divisions which cover more specific areas in need of mobility products and services.

With a lot of countries now facing an aging demographic, Savaria is well positioned to meet the needs of a growing market segment. The company has seen fantastic growth rates over the past several years across sales and earnings.

Savaria pays a decent dividend yield to investors on a monthly basis. The company’s very high payout ratio does put this dividend at risk going forward.

Savaria is a great small-cap mobility company to consider adding to your monthly dividend stock portfolio.

8. Exchange Income Corp.

Exchange Income is a diversified company focused on acquisitions within aerospace, aviation, and manufacturing. It essentially acts as a holding company for its many subsidiaries within these fields.

The company’s aviation services include airline service, emergency medical services, and part sales throughout Canada.

Exchange’s manufacturing arm focuses primarily on making specialized stainless steel products.

Although its business model can be daunting to fully understand, its operations were extremely defensive relative to peers throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Exchange pays a great dividend yield to investors on a monthly basis but currently comes with a payout ratio well over 100%, potentially putting the currently high dividend at risk in the future.

Exchange Income Corp is a great company to consider for a monthly dividend stock portfolio since it has operations diversified across multiple business segments.

9. Mullen Group Limited

Mullen Group is one of Canada’s largest logistics providers, operating within the trucking sector. Operations are independently run and offer less-than-truckload, warehousing, truckload, transload, logistics, oversized, third-party logistics, and specialized hauling transportation. 

The company operates in specialized markets which reward it with higher profits and a moat around operations. The company also has a lot of room to take on debt for future acquisitions, if needed.

Since IPO, the company has completed over 77 acquisitions which have led to strong company growth.

Mullen pays a good dividend yield to investors on a monthly basis and has a decent payout ratio. This means that the dividend will likely continue into the future, at the company’s discretion.

The company trades at decent valuation multiples, falling roughly in the middle of the price spectrum.

As a logistics and transportation company, Mullen is an excellent choice to consider for most monthly dividend stock portfolios.

10. Northland Power Inc

Northland Power develops, builds, and owns clean power infrastructure across several regions of the world, including Asia, North America, Latin America, and Europe.

Northland is a Canadian company headquartered in Toronto with offices in eight countries globally.

The company’s assets generate electricity from wind, solar, and natural gas. A good portion of these assets is contracted for recurring business over time, which helps to stabilize profits and cash flows over time.

Renewable energy remains a space with a ton of future growth potential as the planet continues its shift away from fossil fuels. Northland Power is well positioned to continue growing at an attractive rate given this massive positive tailwind.

The company pays a relatively lower dividend yield (on a monthly basis) than some of the other companies on our list. Its payout ratio is also high at just under 100%, potentially putting its dividend at risk of being reduced going forward.

Northland is a great choice within the renewable energy space to consider for a monthly dividend stock portfolio.

Should you Invest in Monthly Dividend Stocks?

Monthly dividend stocks can fit very well within a portfolio designed to provide a steady monthly income stream. They can help to reduce some interest rate risk that some bonds may be very vulnerable to.

Here are some circumstances in which to consider adding monthly dividend stocks to your portfolio.

1. Increasing Portfolio Diversification

If your portfolio does not currently contain stocks or other investments outside of bonds, adding monthly dividend stocks will likely boost its diversification. This is valuable because it can also help to reduce your portfolio’s interest rate risk.

2. Boosting Portfolio Yield

Some monthly dividend stocks pay an incredibly high yield on an annualized basis. While some high-yield bonds may also pay a high income stream, most investment-grade bonds tend to pay a modest yield.

Adding high dividend-yielding stocks to your portfolio may increase its overall yield.

3. Your Risk Tolerance is too High for Bonds

Bonds offer limited upside potential, especially in a flat or rising rate environment. For more aggressive investors that are also looking for a monthly income stream, monthly dividend stocks can be a great alternative or complement. 

Investing in monthly dividend stocks will give you more upside potential, provided you invest in good quality stocks.

Canada’s Monthly Dividend Paying REITs

REITs in Canada work a bit differently than regular stock, but they pay monthly dividends. For a list of our top picks of the best REITs in Canada, go here.

Company	Ticker	Market Cap	Dividend Yield (12-Month Trailing)
Automotive Properties	APR-UN.TO	$610.73 Million	6.43%
Allied Properties	AP-UN.TO	$3.78 Billion	5.71%
Artis	AX-UN.TO	$1.12 Billion	6.19%
Boardwalk	BEI-UN.TO	$2.86 Billion	1.82%
BTB	BTB-UN.TO	$649.05 Million	7.81%
Canadian Apartment Properties	CAR-UN.TO	$8.70 Billion	2.89%
Choice Properties	CHP-UN.TO	$10.73 Billion	4.97%
Crombie	CRR-UN.TO	$2.92 Billion	5.36%
CT	CRT-UN.TO	$3.84 Billion	5.25%
Chartwell Retirement Residences	CSH-UN.TO	$2.31 Billion	6.2%
Dream Industrial	DIR-UN.TO	$3.65 Billion	4.91%
Dream Office	D-UN.TO	$777.87 Million	5.89%
First Capital	FCR-UN.TO	$3.86 Billion	2.55%
Granite	GRT-UN.TO	$5.49 Billion	3.42%
H&R	HR-UN.TO	$3.69 Billion	4.37%
InterRent	IIP-UN.TO	$2.09 Billion	2.32%
Killam Apartment REIT	KMP-UN.TO	$2.18 Billion	3.71%
Minto Apartment	MI-UN.TO	$678.49 Million	2.78%
Morguard North American Residential	MRG-UN.TO	$1.05 Billion	3.72%
Morguard	MRT-UN.TO	$357.61 Million	4.32%
NorthWest Healthcare Properties	NWH-UN.TO	$2.41 Billion	7.89%
Plaza Retail REIT	PLZ-UN.TO	$495.40 Million	5.89%
RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust	REI-UN.TO	$7.00 Billion	4.3%
Slate Grocery REIT	SGR-UN.TO	$974.40 Million	5.33%
Slate Office REIT	SOT-UN.TO	$379.44 Million	8.85%
SmartCentres	SRU-UN.TO	$4.77 Billion	6.54%
True North	TNT-UN.TO	$588.52 Million	9.46%

How to Pick Monthly Dividend Stocks

You should look at certain features of a monthly dividend stock before adding it to your portfolio.

Monthly dividend stocks should be assessed based on:

• Their dividend yield on an annualized basis
• How safe a company’s dividend yield is, based on its payout ratio
• If the stock fits your portfolio from a geographical allocation perspective
• If the stock fits your portfolio from a sector perspective
• Other generic stock-picking criteria (business model, growth potential, etc.)

Adding monthly dividend stocks to your portfolio should increase the positive elements of your portfolio (diversification, yield, etc.).

How to Buy Monthly Dividend Stocks In Canada

The cheapest way to buy stocks is from discount brokers. My top choices in Canada are:

To learn more, check out my full breakdown of the best trading platforms in Canada here.

Conclusion

Canada has a lot of excellent monthly dividend stocks to choose from.

While monthly dividend stocks can be constrained in how they manage their business over long periods of time, they can be a great addition to portfolios geared towards monthly income.

Aside from monthly dividend stocks, you can also invest in some of the best monthly dividend ETFs, that can help potentially further improve your portfolio’s diversification.