As the calendar turns to 2026, the leading Wall Street firms are releasing their top stock picks for the new year. Typically, these are companies that analysts have incredible conviction in. In addition, they often have a substantial upside to the price targets and are assigned a Buy or Overweight rating, depending on the company providing the coverage. With all the major indices making strong moves higher in 2025, we were very interested to see what the top prognosticators across Wall Street think will happen in 2026. Not surprisingly, many of the firms we cover are optimistic about the future, despite some trepidation after last year’s double-digit upside for the third straight year.
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For the third straight year, the S&P 500 finished up with double-digit gains.
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While Wall Street remains bullish as ever, many feel a 10% to 20% correction could be in store for investors in 2026.
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Looking at the top stocks in out-of-favor sectors like energy may be the best idea for growth and income investors this year.
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Every year, the top Wall Street firms release a list of their top stock picks for the next 12 months. At 24/7 Wall St., we cover these top stocks and then screen them for those that pay the highest dividends to investors. This can increase investors’ potential total return and is an outstanding idea for those seeking passive income. We screened the top energy ideas at J.P. Morgan for 2026, and, not surprisingly, they are focused on some of the sector’s most prominent names. The firm noted this when discussing the top picks for 2026:
J.P. Morgan’s 2026 U.S. Equity Year Ahead report highlights sector-specific opportunities and risks amid a K-shaped, AI-driven economy. Institutional investors should focus on companies with secular growth drivers, robust balance sheets, and exposure to transformative trends like data center expansion and infrastructure investment. While select sectors look poised for outperformance, others face headwinds from macro uncertainty, regulatory shifts, and cyclical slowdowns.
Here are the five highest-yielding top pick energy stocks at J.P. Morgan for 2026.
This S&P 500 energy stock has been impacted by volatility in oil and gas prices, despite its attractive dividend policy, which includes a fixed dividend that has more than doubled since 2021 and a variable dividend component yielding 2.48%. Devon Energy Corp. (NYSE: DVN) is an oil and gas producer in the United States with a diversified multi-basin portfolio headlined by an acreage position in the Delaware Basin. The company is primarily engaged in the exploration, development, and production of oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids (NGLs).
It owns a portfolio of assets located in the:
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Delaware Basin
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Rockies
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Eagle Ford
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Anadarko Basin
The Delaware Basin extends across southeast New Mexico and into west Texas. It offers exploration and development opportunities from many geologic reservoirs and play types, including the oil-rich Wolfcamp, Bone Spring, Avalon, and Delaware formations.
The company’s Rockies development consists of its Williston Basin and Powder River Basin assets.
The Eagle Ford operations are located in Texas’s DeWitt and Karnes counties.
The Anadarko Basin development is located in western Oklahoma. It has a joint venture with Dow to develop a portion of its acreage in the Anadarko Basin.
The J.P. Morgan price target is $44.
This energy company primarily engaged in electric power production and retail distribution in the Deep South of the United States. Entergy Corp. (NYSE: ETR) is a top utility stock that always makes sense for conservative investors and pays a solid 2.57% dividend. Entergy produces and distributes electricity in the United States. It operates in two segments.
The Utility segment generates, transmits, distributes, and sells electric power in New Orleans and portions of:
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Arkansas
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Louisiana
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Mississippi
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Texas
The company also distributes natural gas.
The Entergy Wholesale Commodities segment is involved in:
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The ownership, operation, and decommissioning of nuclear power plants located in the northern United States
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Sale of electric power to wholesale customers
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Provision of services to other nuclear power plant owners
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Ownership of interests in non-nuclear power plants that sell electric power to wholesale customers
The company generates electricity through gas, nuclear, coal, hydro, and solar sources. It sells energy to retail power providers, utilities, electric power co-operatives, power trading organizations, and other power generation companies.
Its power plants have approximately 24,000 megawatts (MW) of electric generating capacity, which includes 5,000 MW of nuclear power.
The company delivers electricity to 3 million utility customers in Arkansas and Louisiana.
J.P. Morgan has a $108 target price for the stock.
Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) manages an industry-leading portfolio of resources and is one of the world’s largest integrated fuels, lubricants, and chemical companies. Its stock trades at 18% below fair value, yielding 3.29%. The decline in oil prices presents investors with an excellent entry point, and they will likely seize the opportunity to secure a strong dividend yield.
Exxon is the world’s largest international integrated oil and gas company, exploring for and producing crude oil and natural gas in the United States, Canada/South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia/Oceania. It also manufactures and markets commodity petrochemicals, including olefins, aromatics, polyethylene, and polypropylene plastics, as well as specialty products. Additionally, the company transports and sells crude oil, natural gas, and petroleum products.
Top Wall Street analysts expect the company to remain a key beneficiary in a higher oil price environment, and most remain very optimistic about the company’s sharp positive inflection in capital allocation strategy.
Upstream portfolio and leverage to a further demand recovery. Exxon offers greater Downstream/Chemicals exposure than its peers.
Exxon completed its purchase of oil shale giant Pioneer Natural Resources in 2024 in an all-stock transaction valued at $59.5 billion. The deal created the largest U.S. oilfield producer and guarantees a decade of low-cost production.
J.P. Morgan has a $124 price objective.
Formerly known as Schlumberger, this oilfield services giant offers investors a quality value and an income play for 2026. SLB N.V. (NYSE: SLB) is a global technology company that pays a rich 2.81% dividend.
The company’s segments include:
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Digital, which includes products, services, and solutions that span the energy value chain from subsurface characterization through field development and hydrocarbon production to carbon management and the integration of adjacent energy systems
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Reservoir Performance consists of reservoir-centric technologies and services that optimize the reservoir productivity and performance.
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Well Construction provides services and products to operators and drilling rig manufacturers related to well design and construction.
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Production Systems develops technologies and provides expertise that enhances production and recovery from subsurface reservoirs to the surface, into pipelines, and to refineries.
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Lastly, the All Other segment includes asset performance solutions, data center solutions, and SLB Capturi.
The J.P. Morgan price target is $44.
This is a top pure-play midstream idea for 2026 that offers a large and dependable 3.25% dividend. The Williams Companies Inc. (NYSE: WMB) is an energy company. Its segments include:
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Transmission & Gulf of America, which includes the Transco, NWP, and MountainWest interstate natural gas pipelines and their related natural gas storage facilities, as well as natural gas gathering and processing, and crude oil production, handling, and transportation assets in the Gulf Coast region.
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Northeast G&P consists of midstream gathering, processing, and fractionation businesses in the Marcellus Shale region.
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West segment includes gas gathering, processing, and treating operations in the Rocky Mountain region of Colorado and Wyoming, the Barnett Shale region of north-central Texas, and the Eagle Ford Shale region of south Texas, among others.
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And the Gas & NGL Marketing Services includes NGL and natural gas marketing and trading operations.
J.P. Morgan has a $73 target price for the shares.
The Highest-Yielding S&P 500 Utility Stocks Are Strong 2026 Buys After Big Pullback
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