3 Stocks With at Least a Decade of Dividend Growth Under Their Belts
The first thing most dividend investors look at in an income stock is its yield. While the payout matters, an even more important factor is dividend growth.
The data bears this out. Since 1972, companies that have grown their dividends have produced an average annual total return of 9.6%, according to a study by Ned Davis Research. That's better than the S&P 500's 7.3% average annual total return. Companies that maintained their dividends, meanwhile, underperformed both groups at an average annual total return of 6.9%. Because of that, dividend investors need to put a priority on finding companies that can consistently increase their payouts.
Three that stand out are infrastructure operator Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE: BIP), MLP Magellan Midstream Partners (NYSE: MMP), and utility Dominion Energy (NYSE: D). Each company has increased its dividend for at least the last decade. Meanwhile, all three have plenty of fuel to continue growing their high-yielding payouts in the coming years.
Source Fool.com
