In this crazy world, it's hard to find things you can count on. Death and taxes, sure. Jobs, marriages, even your favorite breakfast cereal? Not so much. But there's another, more positive element you usually can rely on: Dividends.
Awesome track records
True, many well-regarded companies have recently done the unthinkable, reducing or eliminating their dividends. Even General Electric, incredibly enough, had to scale back its payout several months ago.
Still, many well-known companies have faithfully paid dividends for many years:
- ExxonMobil has been paying dividends since 1908, and increasing them annually since 1984. (My colleague Joe Magyer has dubbed Exxon "the greatest company in the history of the world.")
- Procter & Gamble has an unbroken dividend-paying streak that goes back to 1890 (yes, 119 years), and it's been hiking its dividend each year since 1957.
- Abbott Labs recently reported its 344rd consecutive quarterly dividend. That's more than 85 years of payouts.
- Walgreen has been paying dividends annually since 1934, and raising them annually since 1976.
- Caterpillar has been paying a dividend since its early days in 1925.
- General Mills has a dividend-paying history dating back to 1899.
- McDonald's, a relatively younger company, has been paying dividends annually since 1976.
Through thick and thin
World War I couldn't derail General Mills' dividend. The Spanish Flu didn't stop Procter & Gamble's payouts. The stock market crash of 1929 couldn't shake Caterpillar. And ExxonMobil kept on paying dividends right through the geopolitical turmoil of World War II.
Even after our latest stock market implosion, with the S&P 500 losing about 37% in a single year and almost every stock shedding value, gobs of companies kept paying their dividends. Many even raised them.
The world and the stock market can both be volatile. But many companies out there will remain very likely -- though admittedly not guaranteed -- to keep paying dividends to shareholders, no matter what the world throws at them.
Dividend dynamite
In our Motley Fool CAPS community of investors, a quick stock screen for our top-rated five-star companies with yields of 2.5% or more delivers names such as these:
|
Company |
Recent Yield |
5-Year Dividend Growth Rate |
|---|---|---|
|
Waste Management (NYSE:WM) |
3.5% |
10% |
|
Stryker (NYSE:SYK) |
1.2% |
44% |
|
Hasbro (NYSE:HAS) |
2.6% |
32% |
|
NorfolkSouthern (NYSE:NSC) |
2.6% |
32% |
|
Nike (NYSE:NKE) |
1.7% |
19% |
|
MarathonOil |
3.1% |
15% |
|
Diageo (NYSE:DEO) |
4.3% |
6% |
|
Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) |
3.8% |
N/A |
Sources: Motley Fool CAPS and DividendInvestor.com.
You'd need to research these possibilities further, of course, but they make a good starting place. Once you add more solid dividend payers to your mix, sit back and (along with your descendants) enjoy the coming century!
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This article was originally published Oct. 2, 2009. It has been updated. A previous version of this article misstated Stryker's dividend yield. The Fool regrets the error.
Longtime Fool contributor Selena Maranjian owns shares of McDonald's, Procter & Gamble, and General Electric. Hasbro is a Motley Fool Stock Advisor pick. Stryker is a Motley Fool Inside Value recommendation. Diageo and Procter & Gamble are Motley Fool Income Investor recommendations. The Fool owns shares of Stryker and Hasbro. The Motley Fool is Fools writing for Fools.
