Dividend investing is a tried-and-true strategy for building long-term wealth. A company that maintains a stable and healthy dividend is one that will continue to pay you over time regardless of how the market zigs and zags. After all, most of the stock market's gains in recent decades have come from dividends.

In order to find dividend studs like General Electric (NYSE:GE) and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) (both of which have returned more than 14% annually over 30 years) I used our new CAPS screening tool to look for companies that pay a strong dividend. Below are five companies with dividend yields of at least 4%.

They also have:

  • Market caps greater than $1 billion.
  • Five-star ratings, the highest possible, from our CAPS community.

Remember, in the first year for which we have data, five-star companies outperformed with an average gain of nearly 28%.

Company

Share Price

Sector

Market Cap (in billions)

Dividend Yield

America Movil (NYSE:AMX)

$51.30

Technology

$89.3

4.2%

BP (NYSE:BP)

$65.54

Basic materials

$206.5

4.7%

Frontline (NYSE:FRO)

$64.34

Services

$4.8

15.8%

Precision Drilling Trust (NYSE:PDS)

$26.52

Basic materials

$3.3

5.6%

Pengrowth Energy Trust (NYSE:PGH)

$19.79

Basic materials

$4.9

13.5%

Data from Motley Fool CAPS and Yahoo! Finance as of July 2.

Remember, this screen is only a starting point in the research process. When selecting dividend payers, Fools know it's important to make sure a company has sufficient free cash flow to sustain and grow its dividends for years to come.

Come and join us on Motley Fool CAPS to dig into these companies further. Let our 110,000-strong (and counting) CAPS community help you make better stock selections.

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