A market sell-off that began in October has now extended into November. The S&P 500 has slid about 10% since Oct. 1, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite falling a steeper 14%. Such a sharp decline in the overall stock market may have many investors looking to invest more of their money in dividend stocks. Quality dividend stocks provide investors with steady income -- even in a down market.
For investors looking to add more income to their portfolio, here are two stocks that not only pay dividends but also have seen their dividend increase rapidly recently. These two stocks are semiconductor company Texas Instruments (TXN 5.64%) and financial software company Intuit (INTU 0.73%).
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Texas Instruments
The market's decline has dragged on Texas Instruments' shares, with the stock trading about 10% lower since Oct. 1. Fortunately for dividend investors, that means the semiconductor's dividend yield (that is, annual dividend payments as a percentage of the stock price) has edged higher, rising from about 2.3% at the beginning of October to 2.7%.
As longtime Texas Instruments investors would attest, the company has been quite generous with its dividend increases in recent years. Its dividend has nearly doubled in just three years. Furthermore, Texas Instruments' dividend has averaged an annualized growth rate of 24% over the past five years.
Looking ahead, more strong dividend growth is likely. The company's business has been growing at a rapid clip, with trailing-12-month free cash flow for the period ending Sept. 30 rising 40% year over year. Committed to returning all of its free cash flow to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases, income investors can expect management to continue to prioritize dividend growth as the business grows.
Intuit
Though Intuit's stock also took a hit recently, sliding 14% since Oct. 1, the financial software company still has a small dividend yield. Intuit's dividend yield currently sits at just 0.8%. But investors shouldn't turn their backs on this dividend stock just because its dividend yield is unimpressive.
Intuit's dividend has been growing rapidly. Like Texas Instruments, its dividend has increased at a rate of 24% annually over the past five years. Furthermore, strong tailwinds for Intuit's business combined with its scalable software-as-a-service business model should help fuel more dividend growth over the long haul. Intuit's revenue and non-GAAP earnings per share in its most recently reported quarter increased 12% and 71%, respectively.
The company's fast-growing base of QuickBooks Online subscribers and its reinvigorated consumer segment will support strong fundamental business growth and ultimately help Intuit keep increasing its dividend. Nowhere is the company's momentum more clear than in its year-over-year growth in small business online ecosystem revenue, which encapsulates sales from all of Intuit's online small-business and self-employed products. This revenue increased 40% year over year in the company's fiscal 2018 and was up 42% year over year in the first quarter of fiscal 2019.
While these stocks haven't proved to be exempt from the market's recent pullback, their dividends have remained steadfast. Even more, a quick overview of both of these companies' fundamentals suggests more dividend growth is on the way for both of these stocks in the coming years.
