67 Best Dividend Stocks for Dependable Dividend Growth

That hardly makes P&G completely recession-proof, but it does make the grade as one of the best dividend stocks because it’s an equity income machine. The P&C insurer most recently lifted its quarterly payout in January 2023, by 8.7% to 75 cents per share. PEP’s business remains fundamentally strong, and that should keep its dividend-growth streak intact.

The company has a presence in more than nine countries through its flagship Walgreens business and other business ventures. AT&T is a large telecommunications company serving over 100 million customers. Here, we are using ‘best’ in terms of highest yields with reasonable and better dividend safety. Walgreens Boots Alliance operates retail pharmacies across the U.S., Europe and Asia.

World’s companies with the highest dividend yields

It also should help the company maintain its place among the world’s top dividend stocks. Its streak reached 48 years in February after a 7.1% hike to $1.0225 per share. J&J’s earnings growth should be more than sufficient to keep the streak alive. Wall Street’s pros expect profits to increase at an average annual rate of 5.7%. ADP has unsurprisingly struggled in 2020 amid higher unemployment. Nonetheless, one of ADP’s great advantages is its “stickiness.” It’s difficult and expensive for corporate customers to change payroll service providers.

ConEd also happens to be North America’s second-largest solar power provider, and is investing in electric vehicle charging programs and other green energy endeavors. The name Franklin Resources (BEN) might not be well-known among investors; however, https://1investing.in/ along with its subsidiaries, it’s called the more familiar Franklin Templeton investments. The global investment firm is one of the world’s largest with $1.4 trillion in assets under management, and is known for its bond funds, among other offerings.

The 7 Best High Yield Stocks Now

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• The No. 1 consideration in buying a dividend stock is the safety of its dividend.
• A company’s payout ratio measures the percentage of net income used to pay its dividends each year — highlighting that Tractor Supply has ample room for increases, even if net income doesn’t grow.
• The company has paid dividends of $2.80 per share in the last three years, which we expect to continue, says Olexa—though we think management will prioritize the dividend moving forward, she adds.
• This included 384K fixed wireless net additions, up from 256K additions in the prior year.
• More recently, Colgate-Palmolive has been focusing its growth on emerging markets.
• On our list, more than half of the stocks currently generate at least much yield.

It was named to the list of payout-hiking dividend stocks at the start of 2020 after its June acquisition of Bemis. Bemis, which fell out of the S&P 500 Index and thus the Aristocrats in 2014, rejoined by merit of its merger with Amcor. The most recent hike was declared in November 2022, when Roper lifted the quarterly payout by 10%, to 68.25 cents per share. The stock has outperformed the broader market by more than 3 percentage points over the past 20 years on an annualized total return basis.

How to invest in dividend stocks

CL last raised its quarterly payment in March, when it upgraded the payout 2.3% to 44 cents a share. Its dividend longevity makes Colgate as reliable an equity income holding as any. Income investors can count on Target to keep hitting the mark for dividend growth thanks to a payout ratio of less than 48%. Analysts are looking for an average annual improvement of about 7% through the end of 2024 – not bad at all for a brick-and-mortar retailer. Analysts surveyed by S&P Capital IQ forecast average annual earnings growth of 6.5% over the next three to five years. That doesn’t sound exciting, but it’s A-OK for dividend stocks in the utility sector.

This means the stock and fundamentals outperform 65% of all stocks in IBD’s database. We’d like to share more about how we work and what drives our day-to-day business. Many or all of the products featured here are from our partners who compensate us.

Shareholders in Nucor (NUE, $40.45), the largest U.S. steelmaker, were hoping 2020 was the year in which business got back to normal after a few years of turbulence due slower global growth and tariffs. Although the dividend is what makes ESS stand out, it typically pleases investors with price appreciation, too. However, losses in 2020 have been far deeper than the S&P 500 as investors worry about the prospects for unpaid rents later this year. The REIT, which invests in apartments, primarily on the West Coast, hit the public markets in 1994 and has been hiking its payout ever since. Swiss health-care company Novartis (NVS, $87.01) is known for its blockbuster drugs Cosentyx (arthritis) and Entresto (heart failure).

Enterprise Products Partners

Dividend yields over 4% should be carefully scrutinized; those over 10% tread firmly into risky territory. Among other things, a too-high dividend yield can indicate the payout is unsustainable, or that investors are selling the stock, driving down its share price and increasing the dividend yield as a result. For example, historically the total annual return (which includes dividends) of the S&P 500 has been, on average, about two percentage points higher than the index’s annual change in difference between operating leverage and financial leverage value. Power- and hand-toolmaker Stanley Black & Decker (SWK) has improved its cash distribution annually for more than half a century, including a 1.3% increase to 80 cents per share quarterly in July 2022. Nucor (NUE) is the largest U.S. steelmaker, but it’s perhaps even more well known for its almost unrivaled commitment to dividend growth. As one of the best dividend stocks, Nucor has increased its dividend for 50 straight years, or every year since it began paying dividends in 1973.

“The impact of COVID-19 continues to have an enormous impact on the global economic environment, to both supply and demand, as well as to buy/sell rates,” CEO Jeffrey Musser said in a May press release. Medical devices maker Becton Dickinson (BDX, $257.37) bulked up in 2015 with its acquisition of CareFusion, a complementary player in the same industry. The COVID-sparked economic downturn naturally ate into CTAS shares, of course, as tens of millions of Americans have become unemployed. The stock lost almost half of its value by the stock-market lows, and it’s still off about 12% from its bull-market highs. S&P Global (SPGI, $351.81), formerly known as McGraw Hill Financial, is the company behind S&P Global Ratings, S&P Global Market Intelligence and S&P Global Platts. Roper Technologies (ROP, $391.93) is an industrial company that produces medical and scientific imaging, RF technology and software, and energy systems and controls, among others.

The new payout of 91 cents per share is more than 15% fatter than the previous amount. Atmos clinched its 25th year of dividend growth in November 2019, when it announced a 9.5% increase to 57.5 cents per quarter. The chemicals giant last hiked its dividend in February, by 5% to 38.5 cents a share. Meanwhile, its sub-30% payout ratio means ALB has the financial resources to keep hiking the payout.

Merck & Company, Inc. (MRK)

Like Coca-Cola, PepsiCo (PEP, $134.46) is working against a long-term slide in soda sales. It too has responded by expanding its offerings of non-carbonated beverages. One advantage Pepsi has that rival Coca-Cola doesn’t is its foods business – the company owns Frito-Lay snacks such as Doritos, Tostitos and Rold Gold pretzels, and demand for salty snacks remains solid.

SFL Corp. is a Bermuda-based maritime charter company that has a fleet of approximately 60 vessels. The company provides transportation services for a range of products, such as chemicals, crude oil, dry bulk, and vehicles. The company’s first-quarter earnings per share declined 86% from a year ago, amid broad weakness in shipping rates.

Another prime example is beverage giant Coca-Cola (KO 0.24%), which, like J&J, boosted its base annual payout for the 59th consecutive year in 2021. Coca-Cola has one of the most recognized brands in the world and it operates in all but two countries (North Korea and Cuba). What’s more, it has over 20 brands generating at least $1 billion in annual sales, and it controls 20% of cold beverage market share in developed countries and 10% in emerging markets. Coke is a beast with extremely predictable cash flow, which is exactly why smart income seekers have been attracted to it.

My watchlist has a bigger focus on growth and therefore tends to underperform when market sentiment is poor but it outperforms when market sentiment is favorable. Over the long term positive market periods last longer than negative market periods, therefore I am optimistic my watchlist will catch-up and surpass both SPY and VYM in due time. But just as no two investors are alike, no two dividend stocks are created equal. For some income seekers, buying exceptionally safe dividend stocks is of paramount importance.