Over the past decades boring old insurance specialist Aflac (AFL) has done a remarkable job of enriching long-term income growth investors thanks to its impressive 34-year dividend growth streak. That's courtesy of its strong, cash-rich business model, which has allowed it to grow its dividend by 14.6% annually over the past quarter century, resulting in annual [...]
Medtronic (MDT) is one of the largest medical device makers in the world and, with 39 consecutive years of dividend growth, one of the venerable dividend aristocrats here. Even more impressive? Over the last 39 years, Medtronic has rewarded income investors with 18% annual dividend growth, making it not only highly reliable, but also one [...]
Ecolab (ECL) is arguably one of the most reliable businesses that money can buy, which is perhaps why the company is a large holding in Bill Gates' dividend portfolio here. Although Ecolab's dividend yield is low (1.1%), the company’s long-term growth outlook is excellent and supported by its impressive moat (90% recurring revenue in [...]
Historically, dividend growth investing has been one of the best ways for regular people to compound their wealth and income over time. Of course, the trick is to be able to carefully select the best quality companies, those with high-quality management teams, strong balance sheets, predictable businesses, and dividend-friendly corporate cultures. That's why dividend aristocrats have [...]
Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) are the best and easiest way for income investors to profit from rental properties without any of the hassle, paperwork, or illiquidity that goes with personally owning real estate. Of course, now that interest rates are rising for the first time in nearly a decade, many investors are concerned [...]
Certain dividend aristocrats and dividend kings can make excellent core holdings for a long-term dividend growth portfolio. With predictable and steadily growing business models, these companies have not only stood the test of time in all manner of economic environments, but they have also proven to have shareholder-friendly corporate cultures. And when it comes to [...]
Dividend aristocrats such as ExxonMobil (XOM) have long been a favorite among conservative income investors. The fact that a company has grown its payout for 25+ consecutive years tells you a lot about the predictability of a firm's business, the quality of its management, and how shareholder-friendly the corporate culture is. Investors can [...]
Warren Buffett once said, "Only buy something that you’d be perfectly happy to hold if the market shut down for 10 years.” In other words, a company with a highly predictable business model, durable competitive advantages, a shareholder-friendly corporate culture, and numerous opportunities for long-term growth. Of course finding such companies isn't always that easy, [...]
Dividend investing has proven to the be an effective way for investors to compound their wealth and income over time. And when it comes to dividend growth stocks, they don't get much more consistent than the dividend aristocrats and dividend kings, groups of companies that have raised their dividends for at least 25 and 50 consecutive [...]
Some of the best long-term investments are shareholder-friendly companies that consistently reward income investors with decades of dividend growth. These include such legends as dividend aristocrats and dividend kings, which have been raising payouts for decades in all types of economic and interest rate environments. Let's take a look at Wal-Mart (WMT), whose epic 44-year history [...]
History has shown that dividend growth stocks are one of the best ways for regular investors to grow their wealth and income over time. Among dividend growth blue chips there is a special class of companies, known as dividend aristocrats, which have shown extraordinary dedication to rewarding dividend lovers with decades of uninterrupted annual payout increases. [...]
Grainger (GWW) has seen its stock price slide by more than 20% since early February, catching the attention of many value-focused dividend growth investors. After all, it’s rare to see such a high quality business tumble so quickly, and one of the most effective habits of dividend investing is to let market volatility work [...]
Cardinal Health (CAH) updated its guidance Tuesday morning, causing its stock price to plunge nearly 12% on the day. The company previously cut its profit guidance in October 2016, but today's news was clearly still a big surprise. Many investors like owning dividend aristocrats such as Cardinal Heath because they have been less [...]
Earlier this week, I did something that I really don't like to do. I sold a stock from our Top 20 Dividend Stocks and Long-term Dividend Growth portfolios, exiting my position in T. Rowe Price (TROW). T. Rowe Price, perhaps best known for being one of the 51 dividend aristocrats, is one of [...]
What Happened? Target (TGT) reported disappointing fourth quarter earnings results this morning, sending the stock down more than 12%. Target's dividend yield now exceeds 4%, well above its five-year average yield of 2.6% and making it one of the highest-yielding dividend aristocrats. Comparable sales declined 1.5% during the quarter, which was at the low [...]