Kinder Morgan (NYSE: KMI) offers investors a big-time income stream. The natural gas pipeline giant currently yields 6.4%, which is one of the highest payouts in the S&P 500 (where the average is 1.4%). Despite its high yield, Kinder Morgan offers one of the safest income streams in that broad market index.

The safety of its payout was evident in its first-quarter report. Here's a look at those numbers and why they put the pipeline stock's big-time dividend on a rock-solid foundation.

Kinder Morgan produced $1.4 billion, or $0.64 per share, of distributable cash flow (DCF) during the first quarter. DCF was up 5% from last year on a per-share basis.

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Source Fool.com