While interest rates have risen over the last few years, there's still two things that fixed-income investments can't offer -- equity appreciation and dividend growth.
Dividend-paying stocks continue to be appealing to income investors because of their competitive yields, equity value appreciation, favorite tax treatment, and ability to grow payouts over time. While fixed interest rates from bond investments will lose purchasing power to inflation over time, the purchasing power of income from dividend growth stocks is more protected because companies tend to raise their dividend payments every year.
In this slideshow, we look at ten of the best high-dividend stocks that offer strong yields (above 3.5%), have consistent cash flow, and a strong track record of dividend growth. The companies in this slideshow have all raised their dividend for at least ten consecutive years.
These companies also have low payout ratios (below 75%), meaning that they will have the ability to continue to pay their dividend if their earnings have a temporary dip.
Stock prices will always fluctuate, but the dividends paid by these rock-solid dividend payers should remain secure with even moderate earnings growth.
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