Many companies return a portion of their profits to investors in dividends. That enables their shareholders to generate some extra income each year. Some companies really pay their investors well. For example, AGNC Investment (AGNC 0.21%), Energy Transfer (ET 2.27%), and Medical Properties Trust (MPW 1.39%) currently offer dividend yields of 6.7% or higher. That's significantly more than the average dividend stock (the S&P 500's dividend yield is currently around 1.2%). Because of that, an investor can turn ...