While dividends won't make an investor rich overnight, reinvesting dividends can help get you there over the course of time, and it can add some stability, too.
Dividend champions
While dividends are never guaranteed, one way to feel more confident about investing in a dividend company is to look for companies with a record of consistent payment and yield increases. If a company has a long-standing policy of increasing payments to shareholders, it bodes well for the future.
Thankfully, the DRiP Investing Resource Center makes that task quite simple. Every year they compile a list of so-called "Dividend Champions" -- a list of companies that have consistently increased their dividend payouts for over 25 years straight.
Business section: Investing ideas
Interested in dividend champions?
To create the following list, we identified the top 10 performing dividend champions over the last year.
Do you think these dividend champions will continue to increase dividends and outperform the market?
List sorted by yearly performance. (Click here to access free, interactive tools to analyze these ideas.)
1. V.F. Corporation
2. Harleysville Group: Engages in the property and casualty insurance business primarily in the eastern and midwestern United States. The stock has gained 61.61% over the last year.
3. RLI
4. W.W. Grainger: W.W. Grainger, and its subsidiaries distribute facilities maintenance and other related products and services in the United States, Canada, Japan, Mexico, India, Puerto Rico, China, Colombia, and Panama. The stock has gained 46.60% over the last year.
5. McDonald's
6. Cintas: Provides corporate identity uniforms and related business services in North America and Latin America, Europe, and Asia. The stock has gained 38.03% over the last year.
7. Raven Industries
8. Lancaster Colony
9. Helmerich & Payne: Engages in the contract drilling of oil and gas wells in the United States and internationally. The stock has gained 34.73% over the last year.
10. McGraw-Hill: Provides various information services for financial, educational, and business information markets worldwide. The stock has gained 29.83% over the last year.
Interactive Chart: Press Play to compare changes in analyst ratings over the last two years for the stocks mentioned above. Analyst ratings sourced from Zacks Investment Research.
List compiled by Eben Esterhuizen, CFA. Kapitall's Eben Esterhuizen and Rebecca Lipman do not own any of the shares mentioned above. Data sourced from Finviz.