Category Monthly Dividend

Updated on February 20th, 2025 by Felix Martinez

Chevron Corporation (CVX) is one of the world’s largest and most well-known energy stocks. It is also one of the energy sector’s most stable dividend growth companies, having grown its dividend for 38 consecutive years.

As a result, Chevron is a member of the exclusive Dividend Aristocrats – a group of 69 elite dividend stocks with 25+ years of consecutive dividend increases.

We believe the Dividend Aristocrats are some of the highest-quality dividend stocks in the entire stock market. With this in mind, we created a full list of all 69 Dividend Aristocrats, along with important financial metrics such as dividend yields and P/E ratios.

You can download a copy of our full Dividend Aristocrats list by clicking on the link below:

 

Disclaimer: Sure Dividend is not affiliated with S&P Global in any way. S&P Global owns and maintains The Dividend Aristocrats Index. The information in this article and downloadable spreadsheet is based on Sure Dividend’s own review, summary, and analysis of the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats ETF (NOBL) and other sources, and is meant to help individual investors better understand this ETF and the index upon which it is based. None of the information in this article or spreadsheet is official data from S&P Global. Consult S&P Global for official information.

Due to the industry’s reliance on high commodity prices for profitability, only two oil stocks are on the list of Dividend Aristocrats: Chevron and Exxon Mobil (XOM).

Chevron’s dividend consistency and stability help it stand out in the otherwise volatile energy industry. This article will analyze Chevron’s intermediate-term investment prospects.

Business Overview

Chevron is one of 6 integrated oil and gas super-majors, along with:

• BP (BP)
• Eni SpA (E)
• TotalEnergies (TTE)
• Exxon Mobil (XOM)
• Shell (SHEL)

Like the other integrated supermajors, Chevron engages in upstream oil and gas production and downstream refining businesses. In 2023, Chevron generated 74% of its earnings from its upstream segment. Therefore, it is highly sensitive to the underlying commodity price.

Global oil demand has continued to increase in the years since the coronavirus pandemic steadily. Separately, oil and gas prices have been elevated due to the war in Ukraine and resulting sanctions on Russia. Before the sanctions, Russia was producing about 10% of global oil output and one-third of natural gas consumed in Europe.

The benefit from these exceptionally favorable conditions was evident in Chevron’s performance in 2022, although conditions softened in 2023 and 2024 as oil and gas prices moderated off their peaks.

Still, Chevron is posting strong financial results. At the end of January, Chevron reported (1/31/25) earnings for the fourth quarter and full year. The company fourth-quarter 2024 earnings of $3.2 billion ($1.84 per share), up from $2.3 billion in 2023, with adjusted earnings at $3.6 billion. The company returned a record $27 billion to shareholders, including $15.2 billion in buybacks and $11.8 billion in dividends. The board approved a 5% dividend increase to $1.71 per share. Full-year earnings totaled $17.7 billion, though lower refining margins and asset retirement costs impacted cash flow.

Production hit record levels, with global output up 7% and U.S. production rising 19%, driven by growth in the Permian Basin and PDC Energy integration. Key projects included the Anchor deepwater development in the Gulf of Mexico and the Future Growth Project in Kazakhstan. Chevron also divested assets in Canada, Alaska, and the Republic of Congo while advancing its $53 billion acquisition of Hess. The company aims for $2–3 billion in cost savings by 2026.

Chevron expanded low-carbon initiatives, cutting emissions by 700,000 metric tons and increasing carbon storage efforts. It upgraded refining capabilities in Pasadena, Texas, and secured new exploration acreage worldwide. The company also launched a $500 million Future Energy Fund III to invest in clean energy technologies while maintaining its focus on capital discipline and long-term growth.

Growth Prospects

Chevron is one of the largest publicly traded energy corporations in the world and stands to benefit tremendously from elevated prices of oil and gas.

Chevron invested heavily in growth projects for years but failed to grow its output for an entire decade, as oil projects take several years to start bearing fruit. However, Chevron is now in the positive phase of its investing cycle.

Source: Investor Presentation

In addition, thanks to the high-grading of its asset portfolio, Chevron can fund its dividend even at an oil price of $40.

Another long-term growth catalyst is Chevron’s major acquisition. On October 23rd, 2023, Chevron agreed to Acquire Hess (HES) for $53 billion in an all-stock deal. Thanks to this deal, Chevron will purchase the highly profitable Stabroek block in Guyana and Bakken assets, greatly enhancing its production and free cash flow.

Nevertheless, given the nearly all-time high earnings-per-share expected this year, we expect an -5 % average annual decrease over the next five years.

Competitive Advantages & Recession Performance

Chevron’s competitive advantage in the highly cyclical energy sector comes primarily from its size and financial strength. The company’s operational expertise allowed it to navigate the 2020 coronavirus pandemic successfully.

As a commodity producer, Chevron is vulnerable to any oil price downturn, particularly given that it is the most leveraged oil major to the oil price. However, thanks to its strong balance sheet, the company is likely to endure the next downturn, just like it has done in all the previous downturns.

Chevron’s aggressive cost-cutting efforts have helped the company become more efficient. Chevron has continued to reduce drilling costs, significantly reducing its break-even expense.

Chevron stacks up well among its peers in the energy sector. However, the company is certainly not the most recession-resistant Dividend Aristocrat, as evidenced by its performance during the 2007-2009 financial crisis:

• 2007 adjusted earnings-per-share: $8.77
• 2008 adjusted earnings-per-share: $11.67 (33% increase)
• 2009 adjusted earnings-per-share: $5.24 (-55% decline)
• 2010 adjusted earnings-per-share: $9.48 (81% increase)

Chevron’s adjusted earnings per share declined by more than 50% during the 2007-2009 financial crisis, but the company managed to remain profitable during a bear market that drove many of its competitors out of business.

This allowed Chevron to continue raising its dividend payment throughout the Great Recession. Chevron’s dividend safety is far above the average company in the energy sector.

Valuation & Expected Total Returns

Chevron’s expected total returns are more difficult to assess than those of many other companies. This is primarily due to the company’s highly volatile results, which result from the dramatic swings in oil and gas prices.

With a share price near $158, the price-to-earnings ratio presently sits 14.8 times based on 2025 expected earnings of $10.70 per share.

If the stock reverted to our fair value estimate of 14 times earnings, this would imply a fractional valuation headwind over the next five years.

Moreover, the stock offers a 4.4% dividend yield. However, the valuation tailwind and the dividend are likely to be offset by the expected 5% average annual decline in earnings per share.

Overall, the stock could generate a -0.5% average annual return over the next five years off its nearly all-time high current stock price.

Final Thoughts

Chevron is one of the rare oil and gas companies that was able to navigate through the Great Recession of 2007-2009, the oil downturn of 2014-2016, and the COVID-19 pandemic without cutting its dividend.

Chevron’s lower cost structure allows it to handle a much lower average oil price. Furthermore, new projects in the U.S. and international markets will help the company continue to grow.

Nevertheless, as we are nearing the peak of the oil industry’s cycle, which is infamous for its dramatic swings, Chevron should probably be avoided around its current stock price.

Additionally, the following Sure Dividend databases contain the most reliable dividend growers in our investment universe:

If you’re looking for stocks with unique dividend characteristics, consider the following Sure Dividend databases:

The major domestic stock market indices are another solid resource for finding investment ideas. Sure Dividend compiles the following stock market databases and updates them monthly:

Updated on February 24th, 2024 by Bob Ciura
Spreadsheet data updated daily

Real estate investment trusts – or REITs, for short – can be fantastic securities for generating meaningful portfolio income. REITs widely offer higher dividend yields than the average stock.

While the S&P 500 Index on average yields less than 2% right now, it is relatively easy to find REITs with dividend yields of 5% or higher.

The following downloadable REIT list contains a comprehensive list of U.S. Real Estate Investment Trusts, along with metrics that matter including:

• Stock price
• Dividend yield
• Market capitalization
• 5-year beta

You can download your free 200+ REIT list (along with important financial metrics like dividend yields and payout ratios) by clicking on the link below:

 

In addition to the downloadable Excel sheet of all REITs, this article discusses why income investors should pay particularly close attention to this asset class.

And, we also include our top 7 REITs today based on expected total returns.

Table Of Contents

In addition to the full downloadable Excel spreadsheet, this article covers our top 7 REITs today, as ranked using expected total returns from The Sure Analysis Research Database.

The table of contents below allows for easy navigation.

How To Use The REIT List To Find Dividend Stock Ideas

REITs give investors the ability to experience the economic benefits associated with real estate ownership without the hassle of being a landlord in the traditional sense.

Because of the monthly rental cash flows generated by REITs, these securities are well-suited to investors that aim to generate income from their investment portfolios. Accordingly, dividend yield will be the primary metric of interest for many REIT investors.

For those unfamiliar with Microsoft Excel, the following images show how to filter for high dividend REITs with dividend yields between 5% and 7% using the ‘filter’ function of Excel.

 

Step 1: Download the Complete REIT Excel Spreadsheet List at the link above.

Step 2: Click on the filter icon at the top of the ‘Dividend Yield’ column in the Complete REIT Excel Spreadsheet List.

Step 3: Use the filter function ‘Between’ along with the numbers 0.05 and 0.07 to display REITs with dividend yields between 5% and 7%.

This will help to eliminate any REITs with exceptionally high (and perhaps unsustainable) dividend yields.

Also, click on ‘Largest to Smallest’ at the top of the filter window to list the REITs with the highest dividend yields at the top of the spreadsheet.

Now that you have the tools to identify high-quality REITs, the next section will show some of the benefits of owning this asset class in a diversified investment portfolio.

Why Invest in REITs?

REITs are, by design, a fantastic asset class for investors looking to generate income.

Thus, one of the primary benefits of investing in these securities is their high dividend yields.

The currently high dividend yields of REITs is not an isolated occurrence. In fact, this asset class has traded at a higher dividend yield than the S&P 500 for decades.

Related: Dividend investing versus real estate investing.

The high dividend yields of REITs are due to the regulatory implications of doing business as a real estate investment trust.

In exchange for listing as a REIT, these trusts must pay out at least 90% of their net income as dividend payments to their unitholders (REITs trade as units, not shares).

Sometimes you will see a payout ratio of less than 90% for a REIT, and that is likely because they are using funds from operations, not net income, in the denominator for REIT payout ratios (more on that later).

REIT Financial Metrics

REITs run unique business models. More than the vast majority of other business types, they are primarily involved in the ownership of long-lived assets.

From an accounting perspective, this means that REITs incur significant non-cash depreciation and amortization expenses.

How does this affect the bottom line of REITs?

Depreciation and amortization expenses reduce a company’s net income, which means that sometimes a REIT’s dividend will be higher than its net income, even though its dividends are safe based on cash flow.

Related: How To Value REITs

To give a better sense of financial performance and dividend safety, REITs eventually developed the financial metric funds from operations, or FFO.

Just like earnings, FFO can be reported on a per-unit basis, giving FFO/unit – the rough equivalent of earnings-per-share for a REIT.

FFO is determined by taking net income and adding back various non-cash charges that are seen to artificially impair a REIT’s perceived ability to pay its dividend.

For an example of how FFO is calculated, consider the following net income-to-FFO reconciliation from Realty Income (O), one of the largest and most popular REIT securities.

Source: Realty Income Annual Report

In 2023, net income was $872 million while FFO available to stockholders was above $2.8 billion, a sizable difference between the two metrics.

This shows the profound effect that depreciation and amortization can have on the GAAP financial performance of real estate investment trusts.

The Top 7 REITs Today

Below we have ranked our top 7 REITs today based on expected total returns.

Expected total returns are in turn made up from dividend yield, expected growth on a per unit basis, and valuation multiple changes. Expected total return investing takes into account income (dividend yield), growth, and value.

Note: The REITs below have not been vetted for safety. These are high expected total return securities, but they may come with elevated risks.

We encourage investors to fully consider the risk/reward profile of these investments.

For the Top 10 REITs each month with 4%+ dividend yields, based on expected total returns and safety, see our Top 10 REITs service.

Top REIT #7: Innovative Industrial Properties Inc. (IIPR)

• Expected Total Return: 15.4%
• Dividend Yield: 10.5%

Innovative Industrial Properties, Inc. is a single-use “specialty REIT” that exclusively focuses on owning properties used for the cultivation and production of cannabis.

Because the industry is in the midst of a legal transition, there are constraints on capital available to businesses engaged in the marijuana business.

Due to the cannabis boom over the past few years, as well as its exclusivity in terms of the listing giving the trust access to public markets, Innovate Industrial Properties is a unique REIT.

On November 6th, 2024, Innovative Industrial Properties released its Q3 results for the period ending September 30th, 2024. For the quarter, revenues and normalized AFFO/share were $75.6 million and $2.25, both down 1.7% compared to last year.

Revenues declined due to a $3.0 million drop in rent and property management fees from repossessed properties since June 2023, and a $1.3 million decrease from reclassified sales-type leases.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on IIPR (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Top REIT #6: Clipper Realty (CLPR)

• Expected Total Return: 14.6%
• Dividend Yield: 10.7%

Clipper Realty is a Real Estate Investment Trust, or REIT, that was founded by the merger of four pre-existing real estate companies. The founders retain about 2/3 of the ownership and votes today, as they have never sold a share.

Clipper Properties owns commercial (primarily multifamily and office with a small sliver of retail) real estate across New York City.

Clipper Realty Inc. (CLPR) reported strong third-quarter 2024 results, with record revenues of $37.6 million, a 6.8% increase from the same period in 2023, driven largely by growth in residential leasing and higher occupancy.

Net operating income (NOI) reached a record $21.8 million, while adjusted funds from operations (AFFO) hit $7.8 million, or $0.18 per share, up from $6.3 million, or $0.15 per share, a year earlier.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on CLPR (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Top REIT #5: Plymouth Industrial REIT (PLYM)

• Expected Total Return: 15.9%
• Dividend Yield: 5.8%

Plymouth Industrial REIT is a full-service, vertically integrated real estate investment trust which acquires, owns, and manages single and multi-tenant industrial properties, which include distribution centers, warehouses, light industrial and small bay industrial properties.

The majority of the property portfolio is located in Florida, Ohio, Indiana, Tennessee, Illinois, and Georgia. As of June 30, 2024, the trust owned and managed 210 buildings, totaling 33.8 million square feet in over 10 markets.

Plymouth’s property portfolio resides almost entirely within The Golden Triangle states, which is within a day’s drive to 70% of the U.S. population, and contains more ports than any other region in the country.

Plymouth Industrial reported third quarter 2024 results on November 6th, 2024. The trust reported core funds from operations (FFO) of $0.44 per common share, down two cents compared to last year.

Adjusted FFO per share of $0.40 was a 4.8% decrease compared to Q3 2023. Same store net operating income (NOI) on a cash basis rose by 0.6% year-over-year when excluding early termination income.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on PLYM (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Top REIT #4: Ellington Credit Co. (EARN)

• Expected Total Return: 16.4%
• Dividend Yield: 14.7%

Ellington Credit Co. acquires, invests in, and manages residential mortgage and real estate related assets. Ellington focuses primarily on residential mortgage-backed securities, specifically those backed by a U.S. Government agency or U.S. government–sponsored enterprise.

Agency MBS are created and backed by government agencies or enterprises, while non-agency MBS are not guaranteed by the government.

On November 12th, 2024, Ellington Residential reported its third quarter results for the period ending September 30th, 2024. The company generated net income of $5.4 million, or $0.21 per share.

Ellington achieved adjusted distributable earnings of $7.2 million in the quarter, leading to adjusted earnings of $0.28 per share, which covered the dividend paid in the period.

Net interest margin was 5.22% overall. At quarter end, Ellington had $25.7 million of cash and cash equivalents, and $96 million of other unencumbered assets.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on EARN (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Top REIT #3: Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc. (ARE)

• Expected Total Return: 17.0%
• Dividend Yield: 5.5%

Alexandria Real Estate Equities owns and operates life science, technology and ag-tech campuses across North America.

Key locations for this Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) include Boston, San Francisco, New York, San Diego, Seattle, Maryland, and the Research Triangle (North Carolina). The company focuses on high quality properties in prime locations.

Alexandria’s business model has taken on renewed importance as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, as a significant number of the company’s life science tenants are working on solutions for similar future crises.

On January 27th, 2025, Alexandria reported fourth quarter 2024 results for the period ending December 31st, 2024. For the quarter, the company generated $789 million in revenue, a 4.2% increase compared to Q4 2023.

Adjusted funds from operations (FFO) totaled $412 million or $2.39 per share compared to $390 million or $2.28 per share in Q4 2023.

Alexandria ended the quarter with $5.7 billion in liquidity. And more than fifty percent of the company’s tenants are investment-grade or publicly traded large cap businesses.

Alexandria issued its 2025 guidance, expecting $9.23 to $9.44 in adjusted FFO.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on ARE (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Top REIT #2: American Assets Trust (AAT)

• Expected Total Return: 17.0%
• Dividend Yield: 6.2%

American Assets Trust (AAT) is a REIT that was formed in 2011 as a successor of American Assets, a privately held company founded in 1967.

AAT is headquartered in San Diego, California, and has great experience in acquiring, improving and developing office, retail and residential properties throughout the U.S., primarily in Southern California, Northern California, Oregon, Washington and Hawaii.

Its office portfolio and its retail portfolio comprise of approximately 4.1 million and 3.1 million square feet, respectively.

In late October, AAT reported (10/29/24) financial results for the third quarter of fiscal 2024. Adjusted same-store net operating income grew 16% and funds from operations (FFO) per share grew 20% over last year’s quarter, thanks to a lease termination fee, rent hikes and slightly higher occupancy.

Thanks to a non-recurring termination fee, AAT raised its guidance for FFO per share in 2024 from $2.48-$2.54 to $2.51-$2.55.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on AAT (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Top REIT #1: Community Healthcare Trust (CHCT)

• Expected Total Return: 17.6%
• Dividend Yield: 9.9%

Community Healthcare Trust is an REIT which owns income-producing real estate properties linked to the healthcare sector, such as physician offices, specialty centers, behavioral facilities, inpatient rehabilitation facilities, and medical office buildings.

The trust has investments in 197 properties in 35 states, totaling 4.4 million square feet.

Source: Investor Presentation

On February 18th, 2025, Community Healthcare Trust reported fourth quarter results for the period ending December 31st, 2024.

Funds from operations (FFO) per share dipped 16% to $0.48 from $0.57 in the prior year quarter. Adjusted FFO per share, however, declined by 10% to $0.55.

During the quarter, Community Healthcare acquired three properties for $8.2 million. These properties were 100% leased with lease expirations through 2029.

The trust also has seven properties under definitive purchase agreements, with a combined purchase price of roughly $170 million, expected to close from 2025 through 2027.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on CHCT (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Final Thoughts

The REIT Spreadsheet list in this article contains a list of publicly-traded Real Estate Investment Trusts.

However, this database is certainly not the only place to find high-quality dividend stocks trading at fair or better prices.

In fact, one of the best methods to find high-quality dividend stocks is looking for stocks with long histories of steadily rising dividend payments.

Companies that have increased their payouts through many market cycles are highly likely to continue doing so for a long time to come.

You can see more high-quality dividend stocks in the following Sure Dividend databases, each based on long streaks of steadily rising dividend payments:

You might also be looking to create a highly customized dividend income stream to pay for life’s expenses.

The following lists provide useful information on high dividend stocks and stocks that pay monthly dividends:

 

Updated on February 24th, 2025 by Bob Ciura

It isn’t surprising that we favor stocks that pay dividends, as studies have shown that owning income producing securities is an excellent way to build wealth while also protecting to the downside.

In bull markets, dividends can add to the gains from the stock while also purchasing additional shares. When prices decline, dividends can reduce the losses while being used to acquire more shares at a now lower price.

With this in mind, we created a full list of the Dividend Kings, a group of stocks with over 50 consecutive years of dividend increases.

You can see the full downloadable spreadsheet of all 54 Dividend Kings (along with important financial metrics such as dividend yields, payout ratios, and price-to-earnings ratios) by clicking on the link below:

 

The Dividend Kings  have rewarded shareholders with rising income for decades.

The following 10 stocks represent Dividend Kings that can continue to raise their dividends for decades to come.

The list includes 10 Dividend Kings with our highest Dividend Risk Score of ‘A’ in the Sure Analysis Research Database, that also have payout ratios below 70% to ensure a sustainable dividend payout.

The stocks are sorted by dividend payout ratio, from lowest to highest.

Table of Contents

Dividend King To Hold Forever: Nordson Corp. (NDSN)

Nordson was founded in 1954 in Amherst, Ohio by brothers Eric and Evan Nord, but the company can trace its roots back to 1909 with the U.S. Automatic Company.

Today the company has operations in over 35 countries and engineers, manufactures, and markets products used for dispensing adhesives, coatings, sealants, biomaterials, plastics, and other materials, with applications ranging from diapers and straws to cell phones and aerospace.

Source: Investor Presentation

On August 14th, 2024, Nordson increased its dividend by 15% to $0.78 per share quarterly, marking 61 years of increases.

On December 11th, 2024, Nordson reported fourth quarter results for the period ending October 31st, 2024. For the quarter, the company reported sales of $744 million, 4% higher compared to $719 million in Q4 2023, which was driven by a positive acquisition impact, and offset by organic decrease of 3%.

Industrial Precision saw sales decrease by 3%, while the Medical and Fluid Solutions and Advanced Technology Solutions segments had sales increases of 19% and 5%, respectively. The company generated adjusted earnings per share of $2.78, a 3% increase compared to the same prior-year quarter.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on NDSN (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Dividend King To Hold Forever: Sysco Corp. (SYY)

Sysco Corporation is the largest wholesale food distributor in the United States. The company serves 600,000 locations with food delivery, including restaurants, hospitals, schools, hotels, and other facilities.

Source: Investor Presentation

On January 28th, 2025, Sysco reported second-quarter results for Fiscal Year (FY)2025. The company reported a 4.5% increase in sales for the second quarter of fiscal year 2025, reaching $20.2 billion.

U.S. Foodservice volume grew by 1.4%, while gross profit rose 3.9% to $3.7 billion. Operating income increased 1.7% to $712 million, with adjusted operating income growing 5.1% to $783 million. Earnings per share (EPS) remained at $0.82, while adjusted EPS grew 4.5% to $0.93.

The company reaffirmed its full-year guidance, projecting sales growth of 4%-5% and adjusted EPS growth of 6%-7%.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on SYY (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Dividend King To Hold Forever: Archer Daniels Midland (ADM)

Archer-Daniels-Midland is the largest publicly traded farmland product company in the United States. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s businesses include processing cereal grains, oilseeds, and agricultural storage and transportation.

Archer-Daniels-Midland reported its third-quarter results for Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 on November 18th, 2024. The company reported adjusted net earnings of $530 million and adjusted EPS of $1.09, both down from the prior year due to a $461 million non-cash charge related to its Wilmar equity investment.

Consolidated cash flows year-to-date reached $2.34 billion, reflecting strong operations despite market challenges.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on ADM (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Dividend King To Hold Forever: Farmers & Merchants Bancorp (FMCB)

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp is a locally owned and operated community bank with 32 locations in California. Due to its small market cap and its low liquidity, it passes under the radar of most investors.

F&M Bank has paid uninterrupted dividends for 88 consecutive years and has raised its dividend for 59 consecutive years.

In late January, F&M Bank reported (1/23/25) financial results for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024. The bank grew its earnings-per-share 9% over the prior year’s quarter, from $28.55 to a new all-time high of $31.11. Loans and deposits grew 1% each.

Net interest income dipped -3% due to a contraction of net interest margin from 4.30% to 4.05% amid higher deposit costs. Management remains optimistic for the foreseeable future, as the bank enjoys one of the widest net interest margins in its sector.

We reiterate that F&M Bank is one of the most resilient banks during downturns, such as the pandemic, a potential recession or the financial turmoil caused by the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, Credit Suisse and First Republic.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on FMCB (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Dividend King To Hold Forever: Hormel Foods (HRL)

Hormel Foods was founded back in 1891 in Minnesota. Since that time, the company has grown into a juggernaut in the food products industry with nearly $10 billion in annual revenue.

Hormel has kept with its core competency as a processor of meat products for well over a hundred years, but has also grown into other business lines through acquisitions.

Hormel has a large portfolio of category-leading brands. Just a few of its top brands include include Skippy, SPAM, Applegate, Justin’s, and more than 30 others.

It has also pursued acquisitions to drive growth. For example, in 2021, Hormel acquired the Planters snack nuts business from Kraft-Heinz (KHC) for $3.35 billion, which has boosted Hormel’s growth.

Source: Investor Presentation

Hormel posted fourth quarter and full-year earnings on December 4th, 2024, and results were in line with expectations. The company posted adjusted earnings-per-share of 42 cents, which met estimates. Revenue was off 2% year-on-year to $3.14 billion, also hitting estimates.

Operating income was $308 million for the quarter on an adjusted basis, or 9.8% of revenue. Operating cash flow was $409 million for Q4.

For the year, sales were $11.9 billion, and adjusted operating income was $1.1 billion, or 9.6% of revenue. Adjusted earnings-per-share was $1.58. Operating cash flow hit a record of $1.3 billion.

Guidance for 2025 was initiated at $11.9 billion to $12.2 billion in sales, with organic net sales growth of 1% to 3%.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on HRL (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Dividend King To Hold Forever: PPG Industries (PPG)

PPG Industries is the world’s largest paints and coatings company. Its only competitors of similar size are Sherwin-Williams and Dutch paint company Akzo Nobel.

PPG Industries was founded in 1883 as a manufacturer and distributor of glass (its name stands for Pittsburgh Plate Glass) and today has approximately 3,500 technical employees located in more than 70 countries at 100 locations.

On January 31st, 2025, PPG Industries announced fourth quarter and full year results for the period ending December 31st, 2024. For the quarter, revenue declined 4.6% to $3.73 billion and missed estimates by $241 million.

Adjusted net income of $375 million, or $1.61 per share, compared favorably to adjusted net income of $372 million, or $1.56 per share, in the prior year. Adjusted earnings-per-share was $0.02 below expectations.

Source: Investor Presentation

For the year, revenue from continuing operations decreased 2% to $15.8 billion while adjusted earnings-per-share totaled $7.87.

PPG Industries repurchased ~$750 million worth of shares during 2024 and has $2.8 billion, or ~10.3% of its current market capitalization, remaining on its share repurchase authorization. The company expects to repurchase ~$400 million worth of shares in Q1 2025.

For 2025, the company expects adjusted earnings-per-share in a range of $7.75 to $8.05.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on PPG (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Dividend King To Hold Forever: California Water Service Group (CWT)

California Water Service is a water stock and is the third-largest publicly-owned water utility in the United States.

It was founded in 1926 and has six subsidiaries that provide water to approximately 2 million people in 100 communities, primarily in California but also in Washington, New Mexico and Hawaii.

Source: Investor Presentation

California Water Service reported its third quarter earnings results on October 31st. Operating revenues totaled $300 million during the quarter, which was 18% higher than the same quarter last year. This represents a stronger performance compared to what the analyst community had forecasted.

The operating revenue increase was driven by rate increases over the last year as well as by higher accrued unbilled revenue compared to the previous year’s quarter.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on CWT (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Dividend King To Hold Forever: Gorman-Rupp Co. (GRC)

Gorman-Rupp began manufacturing pumps and pumping systems back in 1933. Since that time, it has grown into an industry leader with annual sales of nearly $700 million and a market capitalization of $1 billion.

Today, Gorman-Rupp is a focused, niche manufacturer of critical systems that many industrial clients rely upon for their own success.

Gorman Rupp generates about one-third of its total revenue from outside of the U.S.

Source: Investor Presentation

Gorman-Rupp posted fourth quarter and full-year earnings on February 7th, 2025, and results were weaker than expected. Adjusted earnings-per-share came to 42 cents, which was three cents light of estimates.

Revenue was up 1.3% year-over-year to $162.7 million, which matched expectations. The increase in sales was primarily attributed to the impact of pricing increases taken in the year-ago period.

Gross profit was $49.2 million for the quarter, or 30.2% of revenue. These were down from $50.9 million and 31.7%, respectively, in the same period of 2023.

The decline in gross margins of 150 basis points included 220 basis points of increased labor and overhead costs, which were driven by healthcare expenses.

That was partially offset by a 70-basis point improvement in cost of materials, which itself was driven by a 140-basis point improvement in selling prices offset by a 70-basis point decline from inventory costing.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on GRC (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Dividend King To Hold Forever: SJW Group (SJW)

SJW Group is a water utility company that produces, purchases, stores, purifies and distributes water to consumers and businesses in the Silicon Valley area of California, the area north of San Antonio, Texas, Connecticut, and Maine.

SJW Group has a small real estate division that owns and develops properties for residential and warehouse customers in California and Tennessee. The company generates about $670 million in annual revenues.

Source: Investor Presentation

On October 28th, 2024, SJW Group reported third quarter results for the period ending June 30th, 2024. For the quarter, revenue grew 9.9% to $225.1 million, beating estimates by $11.6 million. Earnings-per-share of $1.18 compared favorably to earnings-per-share of $1.13 in the prior year and was $0.04 more than expected.

As with prior periods, the improvement in revenue was mostly due to SJW Group’s California and Connecticut businesses, which benefited from higher water rates, while growth in customers aided the Texas business.

Higher rates overall added $40 million to results for the quarter, higher customer usage added $4.8 million, and growth in customers contributed $2.4 million. Operating production expenses totaled $166.7 million, which was a 12% increase from the prior year.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on SJW (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Dividend King To Hold Forever: Stepan Co. (SCL)

Stepan manufactures basic and intermediate chemicals, including surfactants, specialty products, germicidal and fabric softening quaternaries, phthalic anhydride, polyurethane polyols and special ingredients for the food, supplement, and pharmaceutical markets.

It is organized into three distinct business lines: surfactants, polymers, and specialty products. These businesses serve a wide variety of end markets, meaning that Stepan is not beholden to just a handful of industries.

Source: Investor presentation

The surfactants business is Stepan’s largest by revenue, accounting for ~68% of total sales in the most recent quarter. A surfactant is an organic compound that contains both water-soluble and water-insoluble components.

Stepan posted fourth quarter and full-year earnings on February 19th, 2025, and results were mixed once again. Revenue was down 1.2% year-on-year to $526 million, but did beat estimates by almost $5 million. Adjusted earnings-per-share came to 12 cents, which missed estimates by 21 cents.

Global sales volume was off 1% year-over-year as double-digit growth in surfactants was offset and then some by demand weakness in polymers. Surfactants were up 3% year-over-year in Q4 to $379 million. Polymer net sales fell 12% to $130 million.

The company managed to generate about $13 million in pre-tax cost savings during the quarter, and about $48 million for the full year.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on SCL (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Final Thoughts

Screening to find the best Dividend Kings is not the only way to find high-quality dividend growth stocks to hold forever.

Sure Dividend maintains similar databases on the following useful universes of stocks:

There is nothing magical about investing in the Dividend Kings. They are simply a group of high-quality businesses with shareholder-friendly management teams that have strong competitive advantages.

Purchasing businesses with these characteristics–at fair or better prices–and holding them forever, will likely result in strong long-term investment performance.

Published on February 27th, 2025 by Bob Ciura

Passive income stocks help you build rising income for retirement and/or financial freedom. Passive income stocks are meant to be purchased once and never sold.

The beauty of earning passive income is that it allows investors to generate income for doing almost nothing.

The average dividend yield in the S&P 500 Index remains low at just 1.3%. As a result, income investors should focus on higher-yielding securities, if they want additional income from their stock portfolios.

With this in mind, we compiled a list of high dividend stocks with dividend yields above 5%. You can download your free copy of the high dividend stocks list by clicking on the link below:

 

This article will discuss 10 passive income stocks with current yields over 6%.

Importantly, these 10 stocks have durable competitive advantages and strong underlying earnings, which support their dividends.

These 10 passive income stocks also have dividend payout ratios at or below 70%, which indicates a sustainable dividend right now.

The 10 passive income stocks are listed below by current dividend yield, in ascending order.

Table of Contents

You can instantly jump to any specific section of the article by using the links below:

Passive Income Stock #10: Newtek One Inc. (NEWT)

Newtek One provides financial and business services to the small- and medium-sized business market in the United States.

What makes NewTek a unique company is that a good portion of its income is derived from subsidiaries that provide a wide array of business services to its large client base.

The company also gets a significant amount of its income from being an issuer of SBA (Small Business Administration loans), which only very few BDCs are licensed to do. This is not your typical BDC that only generates income from interest rate spreads, but also from a much wider range of small business services.

On November 6th, 2024, Newtek reported its Q3 results for the period ending September 30th, 2024. This was the third quarter of the second year of Newtek reporting as a financial holding company following its completion of the National Bank of New York City acquisition.

For the quarter, the company produced a net income of $11.9 million, or $0.45 per share. This compares to net income of $10.9 million, or $0.43 per share, for the prior-year period.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on NEWT (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Passive Income Stock #9: Verizon Communications (VZ)

Verizon Communications was created by a merger between Bell Atlantic Corp and GTE Corp in June 2000. Verizon is one of the largest wireless carriers in the country.

Wireless contributes three-quarters of all revenues, and broadband and cable services account for about a quarter of sales. The company’s network covers ~300 million people and 98% of the U.S.

On January 24th, 2025, Verizon announced fourth quarter and full year results. For the quarter, revenue grew 1.7% to $35.7 billion, which beat estimates by $360 million.

Source: Investor Presentation

Adjusted earnings-per-share of $1.10 compared favorably to $1.08 in the prior year and was in-line with expectations. For the year, grew 0.6% to $134.8 billion while adjusted earnings-per-share $4.59 compared to $4.71 in 2023.

For the quarter, Verizon had postpaid phone net additions of 568K, which was better than the 449K net additions the company had in the same period last year. Retail postpaid net additions totaled 426K.

Wireless retail postpaid phone churn rate remains low at 0.89%. Wireless revenue grew 3.1% to $20.0 billion while the Consumer segment increased 2.2% to $27.6 billion.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on VZ (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Passive Income Stock #8: Edison International (EIX)

Edison International is a renewable energy company that is active in energy generation and distribution. It also operates an energy services and a technologies business. The company was founded in 1987 and is headquartered in Rosemead, CA.

On October 29, 2024, Edison International reported its financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2024.

The company delivered a GAAP net income of $516 million, or $1.33 per diluted share, marking a substantial increase from $155 million, or $0.40 per diluted share, in the same quarter last year.

On an adjusted basis, Edison achieved core earnings of $582 million, or $1.51 per diluted share, up from $531 million, or $1.38 per diluted share, in Q3 2023.

Revenue for the quarter was $5.20 billion, reflecting a 10.61% year-over-year growth and surpassing expectations by $192.39 million.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on Edison International (EIX) (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Passive Income Stock #7: Ford Motor Co. (F)

Ford Motor Company was first incorporated in 1903 and in the past 120 years, it has become one of the world’s largest automakers. It operates a large financing business as well as its core manufacturing division, which produces a popular assortment of cars, trucks, and SUVs.

Ford posted fourth quarter and full-year earnings on February 5th, 2025, and results were better than expected. Adjusted earnings-per-share came to 39 cents, which was seven cents ahead of estimates.

Revenue was up almost 5% year-over-year for the quarter to $48.2 billion, which also beat estimates by $5.37 billion. The fourth quarter was the highest revenue total the company has ever produced.

Ford Blue increased 4.2% to $27.3 billion in revenue for the fourth quarter, beating estimates of $25.9 billion. Model e revenue was down 13% year-over-year to $1.4 billion, $400 million less than expected.

Ford Pro revenue was up 5.3% to $16.2 billion, beating estimates for $15.6 billion.

For this year, Ford expects full-year adjusted EBIT of $7 to $8.5 billion, and for adjusted free cash flow of $3.5 billion to $4.5 billion, with capex of $8 to $9.5 billion.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on Ford (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Passive Income Stock #6: AES Corp. (AES)

The AES (Applied Energy Services) Corporation was founded in 1981 as an energy consulting company. It now has businesses in 14 countries and a portfolio of approximately 160 generation facilities.

AES produces power through various fuel types, such as gas, renewables, coal, and oil/diesel. The company has more than 36,000 Gross MW in operation.

AES Corporation reported third quarter results on October 31st, 2024, for the period ending September 30th, 2024. Adjusted EPS rose 18% to $0.71 for Q3 2024.

The company constructed and acquired 2.8 GW of renewable energy year-to-date, and is on course to add 3.6 GW of new projects online in 2024.

Source: Investor Presentation

Leadership expects to achieve the high end of its 2024 guidance for adjusted EPS of $1.87 to $1.97 for the full fiscal year. Additionally, the company reaffirms it also still expects annual EPS growth of 7% to 9% from 2023 through 2027.

The company is actively engaged in developing and acquiring new energy projects.

It currently has a backlog of 12.7 GW of renewables. AES expects to complete the majority of these projects through 2027.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on AES (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Passive Income Stock #5: Enterprise Products Partners LP (EPD)

Enterprise Products Partners was founded in 1968. It is structured as a Master Limited Partnership, or MLP, and operates as an oil and gas storage and transportation company.

Enterprise Products has a large asset base which consists of nearly 50,000 miles of natural gas, natural gas liquids, crude oil, and refined products pipelines.

It also has storage capacity of more than 250 million barrels. These assets collect fees based on volumes of materials transported and stored.

Source: Investor Presentation

Enterprise Products Partners reported strong fourth-quarter 2024 earnings, delivering $1.6 billion in net income, or $0.74 per common unit, representing a 3% increase over the prior year.

Adjusted cash flow from operations rose 4% to $2.3 billion, with the company declaring a quarterly distribution of $0.535 per unit, a 4% year-over-year increase.

Enterprise also continued its capital return strategy, repurchasing 2.1 million common units during the quarter and 7.6 million units for the full year, bringing total buybacks under its program to $1.1 billion.

For the full year, the company posted $9.9 billion in EBITDA, moving 12.9 million barrels of oil equivalent per day.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on EPD (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Passive Income Stock #4: Midland States Bancorp (MSBI)

Midland States Bancorp (MSBI) is the holding company of Midland States Bank, a community bank that was founded in 1881 and is headquartered in Effingham, Illinois.

It operates 53 branches in Illinois and Missouri and provides a wide range of banking products and services to individuals, businesses, municipalities and other entities. Midland States Bancorp has total assets of $7.5 billion.

In late January, Midland States Bancorp reported (1/23/25) results for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024. Its net interest margin expand sequentially from 3.10% to 3.19% and its net interest income grew 2%.

However, the bank incurred massive charge-offs on loans ($103 million) and provisions for loan losses ($93.5 million).

As a result, it switched from earnings-per-share of $0.74 to an excessive loss per share of -$2.52, missing the analysts’ consensus by $3.19.

Midland States Bancorp has acquired seven smaller banks since 2009. As a result, it grew its asset base by 12% per year on average over the last nine years.

It had also grown its earnings-per-share by 6.9% per year on average during 2015-2023 but it incurred a loss in 2024 due to massive loan charge-offs and high deposit costs, which resulted from high interest rates.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on MSBI (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Passive Income Stock #3: Whirlpool Corp. (WHR)

Whirlpool Corporation, founded in 1955 and headquartered in Benton Harbor, MI, is a leading home appliance company with top brands Whirlpool, KitchenAid, and Maytag.

Roughly half of the company’s sales are in North America, but Whirlpool does business around the world under twelve principal brand names. The company, which employs about 44,000 people, generated nearly $17 billion in sales in 2024.

Source: Investor Presentation

On January 29th, 2025, Whirpool reported fourth quarter 2024 results. Sales for the quarter totaled $4.14 billion, down 18.7% from fourth quarter 2023.

Ongoing earnings per diluted share was $4.57 for the quarter, 19% higher than the previous year’s $3.85 per share.

Whirlpool issued its 2025 guidance, seeing ongoing earnings-per-share coming in at approximately $10.00 on revenue of $15.8 billion.

Additionally, Whirlpool expects cash provided by operating activities to total roughly $1 billion, with $500 to $600 million in free cash flow.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on WHR (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Passive Income Stock #2: MPLX LP (MPLX)

MPLX LP is a Master Limited Partnership that was formed by the Marathon Petroleum Corporation (MPC) in 2012. In 2019, MPLX acquired Andeavor Logistics LP.

The business operates in two segments:

• Logistics and Storage, which relates to crude oil and refined petroleum products
• Gathering and Processing, which relates to natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGLs)

In early February, MPLX reported (2/4/25) financial results for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024. Adjusted EBITDA and distributable cash flow (DCF) per share grew 9% and 7%, respectively, primarily thanks to higher tariff rates and increased volumes of liquids and gas.

MPLX maintained a healthy consolidated debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio of 3.1x and a solid distribution coverage ratio of 1.5x.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on MPLX (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Passive Income Stock #1: Western Union Company (WU)

The Western Union Company is the world leader in the business of domestic and international money transfers. The company has a network of approximately 550,000 agents globally and operates in more than 200 countries.

About 90% of agents are outside of the US. Western Union operates two business segments, Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C) and Other (bill payments in the US and Argentina).

Western Union reported mixed Q4 2024 results on February 4th, 2025. Revenue increased 1% and diluted GAAP earnings per share increased to $1.14 in the quarter, compared to $0.35 in the prior year on higher revenue and a $0.75 tax benefit on reorganizing the international operations.

Revenue rose, despite challenges in Iraq on higher Banded Digital transactions and Consumer Services volumes.

CMT revenue fell 4% year-over-year even with 3% higher transaction volumes. Branded Digital Money Transfer CMT revenues increased 7% as transactions rose 13%. Digital revenue is now 25% of total CMT revenue and 32% of transactions.

Consumer Services revenue rose 56% on new products and expansion of retail foreign exchange offerings. The firm launched a media network business, expanded retail foreign exchange, and grew retail money orders.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on WU (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Final Thoughts & Additional Reading

If you are interested in finding high-quality dividend growth stocks and/or other high-yield securities and income securities, the following Sure Dividend resources will be useful:

High-Yield Individual Security Research

Other Sure Dividend Resources

Guest Post Published on February 25th, 2025 by Jacob Wolinsky

For quite some time, big tech companies have dominated the equities market, leading investors to see impressive returns.

At the same time, Wall Street remains optimistic that developments in Artificial Intelligence (AI) will further create long-term opportunities for the wider industry.

In 2024, several Silicon Valley big leagues entered the dividend space, including Meta Platform (META), Salesforce (CRM), and Google’s parent company, Alphabet (GOOG), announcing their first-ever dividend payouts.

Performance of technology shares, including those listed on the S&P 500 Technology Dividend Aristocrats Index (SPTDAUP) have continued to deliver impressive results despite investors having cold feet over wider economic and market volatility.

Since the beginning of the year, the S&P Technology Dividend Aristocrats Index has gained 5.50% compared to the broader benchmark S&P 500 which has added 4.22% during the same period.

With this in mind, Sure Dividend created a list of dividend-paying technology stocks.

You can see the full technology stocks list by clicking on the link below:

 

Technology companies hold an advantage over other leading sectors with the potential for long-term growth and creating attractive returns.

For instance, the 10-year return of SPTDAUP currently outpaces the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats Index (SPDAUDP), with a return of 14.01% compared to 7.17%.

The changing market landscape will see a growing number of companies delivering impressive results due to high exposure to artificial intelligence.

Table of Contents

AI And Big Tech Dividends

Strong market performance, driven by the rapid development of artificial intelligence, from software applications to hardware and microchips, brings a series of opportunities for dividend-focused investors.

There are several big tech firms that have a reliable dividend track record, offering investors consistency, and improved growth possibilities amid shifting market conditions.

These companies are not ordinary pure-play investment options and instead offer investors a refined balance of growth and income.

AI Dividend Stock: International Business Machines (IBM)

International Business Machines (IBM) has come a long way since the beginning years of commercial computer systems.

Though the company remains a strong contender in the computer hardware and Information Technology (IT) space, recent developments have been more centered around artificial intelligence, including Generative AI and Machine Learning tools.

There are numerous AI-powered projects that have been in the making for quite some time, with IBM Watson, a semantic intelligence application, being in development since 2004, and making a global appearance in 2010.

Being a trusted, and established leader in the technology industry has helped IBM retain its top position in the race for innovation and broader artificial digitization.

These long-term modifications have paid off, with IBM seeing its biggest growth in recent quarters coming from its software segment.

For Q4 2024, IBM reported software revenues of $7.9 billion, up 10.4% on a quarter-over-quarter basis, and up 11.5% on a flat currency basis. Total quarterly revenue came up 1% and totaled $17.6 billion for the period.

The company has continued to deliver impressive profitability, reporting Gross Profit Margin (GAAP) at 56.7%, and operating (non-GAAP) margins of 57.8%.

Most impressively has been the company’s growing cash stockpile. IBM generated $4.3 billion in net cash from operating activities, with a total free cash flow of $6.2 billion.

Additionally, IBM reported $1.5 billion in shareholder dividend payouts for the fourth quarter. The company recognizes the need to adjust business sentiment to leverage key market activities, boost cash flow, and remain highly competitive in a saturated market.

AI Dividend Stock Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM)

Qualcomm (QCOM) is another large player in the computer and technology space, and having more than 40 years of experience under its belt makes it an impressive investment choice for those looking to create a balanced portfolio with broad exposure to different corners of the industry.

To say that the company has actively been working on a handful of AI-based projects might come as an understatement.

In fact, Qualcomm has developed several native AI systems for PC, smartphones, automotive, and IoT (Internet of Things). In addition to this, projects such as Cloud AI and Edge AI Box further provide digital solutions in Gen AI and cybersecurity.

In February, Qualcomm announced Q1 2025 results, reporting a 17% increase in revenues compared to the same period in 2024. In total, for the period, reported revenues were $11.66 billion, along with $3.18 billion in net income, up 15% quarter-over-quarter, along with diluted Earnings Per Share (EPS) of $2.83, up 15%.

In October, the company announced a quarterly cash dividend of $0.85 per common share. Currently, QCOM has an annual dividend of $3.40 per share, which is in line with other market contenders.

Stock performance remains modest, seeing a 13.03% increase since the beginning of the year through February 19. For the first quarter, the company returned $2.7 billion to stockholders, including $942 million in cash dividends, with $1.8 billion through share repurchases.

Again, QCOM requires patience, and investors should keep in mind that the company continues to find its niche within a rapidly developing and changing digital environment. Still, there’s long-term upside potential, and investors who can purchase QCOM at a lower price point could benefit when the tide begins to change.

AI Dividend Stock: Broadcom (AVGO)

Global technology developer Broadcom (AVGO) has noticed that AI-enabled technology and software applications are rapidly approaching an inflection point. This in turn has given them an opportunity to leverage their experience to secure a spot at the top of the list of innovative digital companies that’s driving AI scalability.

At the 2024 Open Compute Project (OCP) Global Summit hosted in October last year, Charlie Kawwas, Ph. D., President of the Semiconductor Solutions Group at Broadcom shared that the company is looking to pioneer new innovative technologies, and continues to secure the necessary resources to scale its AI-infrastructure strategy.

Broadcom delivers plenty of hands-on digital solutions and has a reliable track record that has seen them deliver advancements in fiber channel networking, wired and wireless connectivity, and software applications.

2024 presented itself with a new sense of optimism for the company. Full-year revenue of $51.57 billion was an improvement of 44% compared to the previous year. Similarly, quarterly net revenue rose to $14.05 billion, a 51% increase compared to Q4 2023.

Additionally, Broadcom reported $5.6 billion in cash from operations, climbing $776 million versus the same period of 2023. The company experienced a gradual decline in capital expenditure, totaling $122 million compared to $172 million in Q3 2024.

Revenue across primary business segments delivered strong results. Semiconductor solutions revenue of $8.23 billion improved by 12% and represents roughly 59% of total company revenue.

Elsewhere, Infrastructure Software revenue climbed to $5.82 billion, which was a robust improvement of 196% compared to Q3 2024.

Last year saw the company’s stock gain 139.30% for the 12-month period, however, current year-to-date delivery is down by 1.43% with stocks making its biggest move in one day, falling by 17.40% between January 24-27.

Looking at the year ahead, Broadcom could remain a strong competitor among other market leaders, and potentially capture broader support for its semiconductor business as AI-focused demand continues to climb.

AI Dividend Stock: OpenText Corp. (OTEX)

Next on the list is the Canadian-based software development company, OpenText (OTEX). The company designs and manufactures integrated information management software that provides a more seamless connection between customers and organizations.

AI development has played a key role for OpenText, with several critical projects coming to the surface in recent years. For example, the company developed OpenText™ ArcSight™ Intelligence, which is a native software protocol that makes use of artificial intelligence to detect insider risks, attacks, and cyber threats.

This is only one of several leading projects that are helping to bring OpenText to the frontlines of digital innovation. Their business model sees them partnering with major companies and organizations for critical cybersecurity solutions, enabling them to create more secure and efficient workplace systems.

OpenText completed the divestiture of Application Modernization and Connectivity (AMC) to Rocket Software for $2.27 billion. The recent sell-off means that the company can begin to focus primarily on its information management segment while using proceeds from the divestiture to reduce debt by $2.0 billion.

In addition to this, the remaining proceeds will be used to further growth in the company’s cloud security and AI market segment. The capital allocation will enable OpenText to become a frontrunner in the AI and cybersecurity space while leveraging new market opportunities to build more robust software solutions.

Fiscal Q2 2025 earnings indicate robust delivery of $1.35 billion in total revenue and is the company’s 16th consecutive quarter of cloud organic growth, which totaled $462 million and improved 2.7% year-over-year.

Similarly, the company reported a net income margin of 17% with operating cash flows of $348 million and free cash flows of $307 million. During Q3 2024 OpenText reported $1.27 billion in revenue, which was the company’s first full quarter following the AMC divestiture.

Performance on the stock market remains volatile following a year of persistent challenges, and having to navigate the divestiture of AMC. Stock performance has declined by over 10% in the last 6 months, with year-to-date delivery down 2.93% through to February 19.

While there’s a lot of room for improvement, OpenText could benefit from the rising demand for AI software and cybersecurity protocols in the coming years.

This year might’ve brought plenty of roadblocks, but the company can now look forward to building a more robust product range which in turn will help them capture a bigger share of the market.

AI Dividend Stock: Accenture plc (ACN)

Information management and consulting agency Accenture (ACN) may have endured a challenging summer on the stock market, seeing shares slide by more than 10% between March and September 2024 but still managed to close the year off on a high note.

In the last six months, share performance has gained 17.64% through to February 2023. Additionally, year-to-date delivery is up 10%, with shares setting their second-highest price since December 2021.

Though the company endured some challenging conditions last year, fiscal Q1 2025 results paint a more promising picture, with new bookings revenue of $18.7 billion up 1%, and the reporting $1.2 billion in Generative AI bookings.

Total revenues for the quarter were $17.7 billion, up 9% compared to Q1 2024. Accenture continues to invest in this space, deploying successful strategies to reinvent digital solutions for their clients and position them as a market leader in the space.

Last year, total new bookings revenue hit a record of $81.2 billion for the full fiscal 2024 year and represented an increase of 14% in local currency.

Accenture remains highly successful in applying a working model that allows them to stay in a flexible position. This ensures that the company has a more autonomous approach to current market conditions, while continuously delivering increased customer turnover.

Across much of its operating regions, Accenture reported strong delivery in new bookings and operating income. The Asia Pacific region witnessed the biggest improvement in operating income at 21%, followed by America up 16%, and Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) up 16%.

Though tailwinds persist, perhaps there’s clear guidance in how Accenture is looking to overcome current challenges, while remaining at the forefront of digital innovation and transformation.

Another Year Of Tech Dominance

2025 proves to hold a new set of challenges for investors, and many will need to take a more flexible approach that would allow them to overcome roadblocks and navigate uncertainty more effectively.

Not only will 2025 be a year to see many of the biggest tech giants in the industry battling to remain at the top of the log, but wider changes in the political and economic environment could mean that companies will need to react to ensure their buoyancy.

After facing several years of hard-to-ignore market pitfalls, the technology sector remains a strong, but seemingly resilient leader that’s inviting investors to find long-term growth and reliable income in the tech companies that are pioneering the development of artificial intelligence.

Additional Reading

Sure Dividend maintains similar databases on the following useful universes of stocks:

Guest Post On February 25th, 2025 by Tom Hutchinson, Chief Analyst, Cabot Dividend Investor

We’ve been spoiled by a booming bull market over the past two years. The S&P 500 posted two consecutive years of better than 20% returns in 2023 and 2024 for the first time in 26 years.

As a result, more subdued returns are possible in 2025.

At the same time, the artificial intelligence boom continues. And the bull market is still young by historical standards.

But stocks are expensive. The overall price/earnings ratio for the S&P is well above the ten-year average. Then there’s interest rates. Interest rates are likely to stay higher for longer than previously expected as the economy remains strong, and inflation is proving sticky.

Investors will have to balance between the benefits of stronger growth and the realization that interest rates probably won’t fall to the degree stocks have already somewhat priced in.

That okay. It’s normal and healthy for a bull market to take a bit of a breather while earnings catch up. And more subdued returns put a greater emphasis on dividends, which provide a greater portion of total return in a flatter market.

We tend to forget all about dividends when stocks are flying. But they may play a much bigger role in your overall return in 2025.

One of the best places on the market for dividends is energy stocks. The payouts are among the highest anywhere. And energy is in the spotlight.

With this in mind, Sure Dividend has compiled a list of nearly 80 energy stocks (along with important investing metrics such as dividend yields), available for download below:

 

The Trump administration will pursue vastly different energy policies than the previous administration. A mainstay of the new economic strategy is to unleash domestic fossil fuel production to its fullest extent. The regulatory environment is likely to become far friendlier and encouraging for more oil and gas activity.

Of course, the policies may not be good for many energy company stocks. More production of oil and gas means lower prices. Lower energy prices mean lower profits for commodity-sensitive companies.

But there is one area in the energy realm where the new policy approach is positive: midstream energy.

Midstream energy companies are involved in the middle stages of the energy chain between production and final sale to end users. They gather, process, transport, store, and export oil and gas.

A key differentiator is that revenue is primarily generated by collecting fees for such services, and they are not reliant on commodity prices.

They are toll collectors on the energy highway that benefit from more oil and gas sloshing around the county, which is a good bet going forward.

The best-positioned midstream companies deal in natural gas, the fastest-growing fossil fuel. Sure, clean energy is the wave of the future, but not for a while. The U.S. currently relies on fossil fuels for 79% of its energy needs.

Fossil fuels are expected to remain the dominant energy source for decades to come. Natural gas is the bridge to the future. It is more abundant and cheaper than oil and coal, and it is much cleaner.

Demand for natural gas is strong and getting stronger. It’s the number one fuel source for electricity generation. It’s also the supplement of choice for clean energy, that kicks in when the sun goes in, and the wind stops blowing. The U.S. is the world’s number one producer of natural gas and international demand for exports is strong and growing.

And there’s something else – artificial intelligence. The massive AI catalyst doesn’t just affect high-flying chip companies. Its wake ripples through many aspects of the economy. A major side effect of the new technology is rapidly rising electricity demand.

AI generation sucks up massive amounts of electricity. Data centers (special facilities that house computers and related components) involve sophisticated cooling, back-up, and fire suppression systems.

Large data centers require as much electricity as a small town. And that was before AI. Data centers that house AI components require three times as much electricity as a traditional data center.

As a result, electricity demand is expected to skyrocket in the years ahead, beyond what the current grid can provide. There will be capacity expansion. And natural gas is the number one fuel source for electricity generation. The higher demand will require pipelines of natural gas and expansion opportunities for midstream energy companies.

Most midstream energy companies that deal in natural gas had a stellar year in 2024 while the overall energy sector floundered. These companies also provide high dividend yields.

Here are two of the best midstream natural gas companies on the market.

Midstream Natural Gas Dividend Stock: ONEOK Inc. (OKE)

ONEOK is a large U.S. midstream energy company specializing in natural gas. It owns one of the nation’s premier natural gas liquids (NGLs) systems connecting NGL supply in the Rocky Mountains, Midcontinent, and Permian regions in key market centers.

It also has an extensive network of natural gas gathering, processing, storage, and transportation assets.

Here are some things to like about the stock.

• Investment-grade rated debt
• 85% of earnings are fee-based
• 28 years of stable and growing dividends
• C corporation structure (generates a 1099, not a K-1)

The high-yielding and reliable revenue generator provided a 48.5% total return in 2024 and an 85% return over the last three years. There should be good times ahead as well.

ONEOK recently acquired two midstream companies, Enlink Midstream (ENLC) and Medallion Midstream, which are accretive to earnings immediately. The growing earnings combined with highly favorable industry dynamics should make OKE a winner in 2025.

Midstream Natural Gas Dividend Stock: The Williams Companies Inc. (WMB)

Williams is involved in the transmission, gathering, processing, and storage of natural gas. It operates the large Transco and Northwest pipeline systems that transport gas to densely populated areas from the Gulf to the East Coast. Roughly 30% of the natural gas in the U.S. moves through William’s systems.

Like most other midstream energy companies, the overwhelming bulk of earnings are guaranteed by long-term contracts. And those contracts have automatic inflation adjustments built in.

It also operates a near monopoly in its areas and doesn’t have to compete in price with other similar companies. As a large and established player, it can easily grow with network expansion.

The company continues to raise future earnings guidance as business is booming. WMB also had a stellar 2024 as investors anticipate the growth in natural gas. It returned a whopping 59% for the year. But WMB still trades below the all-time high in 2014 with much higher earnings now.

Additional Reading

Additionally, see the resources below for more compelling investment ideas for dividend growth stocks and/or high-yield investment securities.

Updated on February 25th, 2025 by Bob Ciura

The “Dogs of the Dow” investing strategy is a very simple way for investors to achieve diversification and income in their portfolios while remaining in the sphere of more conservative blue chip stocks.

The strategy consists of investing in the 10 highest-yielding stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, an index of 30 U.S. stocks.

High dividend stocks are stocks with a dividend yield well in excess of the market average dividend yield of ~1.3%. With that in mind, we have created a free list of over 200 high dividend stocks with dividend yields above 5%.

You can download your copy of the high dividend stocks list below:

 

The “Dogs of the Dow” strategy produces above-average income and concentrates on stocks that typically trade at lower valuations relative to the rest of the DJIA.

Given that the DJIA represents some of the largest companies in the world, its “dogs” are typically companies with strong track records that have hit temporary problems.

This is a great and simple strategy for value investors looking to purchase good businesses that are currently out of favor.

To implement this strategy, take the amount of money you have to invest and then divide it equally among the 10 highest-yielding stocks in the DJIA.

Hold these stocks for a whole year and then at the end of 12 months, look at the 30 Dow stocks again and resort them by dividend yield from highest to lowest.

Rebalance and reallocate your capital accordingly and repeat the process. In addition to the simplicity and focus on quality, value, and income that this strategy generates, it also improves discipline by preventing excessive emotion-driven trading.

It also encourages investors to reap the tax benefits from holding positions for at least one year before selling, thereby being taxed at the long-term capital gains tax rate instead of the short-term rate.

The 2025 Dogs of the Dow

The list of the 2024 Dogs of the Dow is below, along with the current dividend yield of the top-ten yielding DJIA stocks. Click on a company’s name to jump directly to analysis on that company.

Dog of the Dow #10: Procter & Gamble (PG)

Procter & Gamble is a consumer products giant that sells its products in over 180 countries. Notable brands include Pampers, Luvs, Tide, Gain, Bounty, Charmin, Puffs, Gillette, Head & Shoulders, Old Spice, Dawn, Febreze, Swiffer, Crest, Oral-B, Scope, Olay and many more.

Procter & Gamble has paid a dividend for 134 years and has grown its dividend for 68 consecutive years – one of the longest active streaks of any company.

In late January, Procter & Gamble reported (1/22/25) financial results for the second quarter of fiscal 2025 (its fiscal year ends June 30th).

Source: Investor Presentation

Sales and its organic sales grew 2% and 3%, respectively, over last year’s second quarter, primarily thanks to 2% volume growth. Core earnings-per-share grew 2%, from $1.84 to $1.88, beating the analysts’ consensus by $0.02.

Procter & Gamble reaffirmed its guidance for 3%-5% growth of organic sales and 5%-7% growth of earnings-per-share in fiscal 2025.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on PG (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Dog of the Dow #9: Home Depot (HD)

Home Depot was founded in 1978 and since that time has grown into a juggernaut home improvement retailer with over 2,300 stores in the US, Canada and Mexico that generate around $153 billion in annual revenue.

Home Depot reported third quarter 2024 results on November 12th, 2024. The company reported sales of $40.2 billion, up 6.6% year-over-year.

However, comparable sales in the quarter decreased 1.3%. Net earnings equaled $3.6 billion, or $3.67 per share, compared to $3.8 billion, or $3.81 per share in Q3 2023. Adjusted EPS was $3.78.

The company spent $649 million on common stock repurchases year-to-date, compared to $6.5 billion in the prior year. Average ticket declined 0.8% compared to last year, from $89.36 to $88.65.

Additionally, sales per retail square foot decreased 2.1% from $595.71 to $582.97.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on HD (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Dog of the Dow #8: International Business Machines (IBM)

IBM is a global information technology company that provides integrated enterprise solutions for software, hardware, and services.

Its focus is running mission-critical systems for large, multi-national customers and governments. IBM typically provides end-to-end solutions.

The company now has four business segments: Software, Consulting, Infrastructure, and Financing.

IBM reported results for Q4 2024 on January 29th, 2025. Company-wide revenue rose 2% in constant currency while diluted adjusted earnings per share climbed 1% year-over-year.

Software revenue increased 11% year-over-year due to 12% growth in Hybrid Platform & Solutions and an 11% increase in Transaction Processing. Revenue was up 17% for RedHat, 16% for Automation, 5% for Data & AI, and 5% for Security.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on International Business Machines (IBM) (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Dog of the Dow #7: Cisco Systems (CSCO)

Cisco Systems is the global leader in high performance computer networking systems. The company’s routers and switches allow networks around the world to connect to each other through the internet. Cisco also offers data center, cloud, and security products.

On February 12th, 2025, Cisco announced a 2.5% dividend increase in the quarterly payment to $0.41. That same day, Cisco announced results for the second quarter of fiscal year 2025 for the period ending January 25th, 2025.

For the quarter, revenue grew 9.4% to $13.99 billion, which beat estimates by $120 million. Adjusted earnings-per-share of $0.94 compared favorably to adjusted earnings-per-share of $0.87 in the prior year and was $0.03 ahead of expectations.

Excluding the company’s recent acquisition of Splunk, total revenue grew 11% for the quarter. Networking fell 3% while Security grew 117%, Observability was up 47%, and Collaboration improved 1%. By region, the Americas increased 9%, Europe/Middle East/Africa was higher by 11%, and Asia-Pacific/Japan/China was up 8%.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on Cisco Systems (CSCO) (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Dog of the Dow #6: Coca-Cola (KO)

Coca-Cola is the world’s largest beverage company, as it owns or licenses more than 500 unique non–alcoholic brands. Since the company’s founding in 1886, it has spread to more than 200 countries worldwide.

Coca-Cola now has 30 billion-dollar brands in its portfolio, which each generate at least $1 billion in annual sales.

Source: Investor Presentation

Coca-Cola posted fourth quarter and full-year earnings on February 11th, 2025, and results were much better than expected on both the top and bottom lines. Adjusted earnings-per-share came to 55 cents, which was three cents ahead of estimates.

Revenue was up 6.5% year-over-year to $11.5 billion, which was a staggering $800 million ahead of estimates. Organic revenue soared 14% year-over-year for the fourth quarter. Currency-neutral operating income was up 22% year-over-year.

For the year, global unit case volume was up 1%, and was up 2% for the quarter. Excluding IRS tax litigation, free cash flow for the year would have been $10.8 billion, up 1% from 2023.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on KO (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Dog of the Dow #5: Johnson & Johnson (JNJ)

Johnson & Johnson is a diversified health care company and a leader in the area of innovative medicines and medical devices Johnson & Johnson was founded in 1886 and employs nearly 132,000 people around the world.

On January 22nd, 2025, Johnson & Johnson announced fourth quarter and full year results for the period ending December 31st, 2024.

Source: Investor Presentation

For the quarter, revenue grew 5.1% to $22.5 billion, which beat estimates by $50 million. Adjusted earnings-per-share of $2.04 compared to $2.29 in the prior year, but this was $0.02 above expectations.

For the year, revenue grew 4.3% to $88.8 billion while adjusted earnings-per-share of $9.98 was up slightly from the prior year. Results included adjustments related to the costs of acquisitions.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on JNJ (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Dog of the Dow #4: Amgen Inc. (AMGN)

Amgen is the largest independent biotech company in the world. Amgen discovers, develops, manufactures, and sells medicines that treat serious illnesses.

The company focuses on six therapeutic areas: cardiovascular disease, oncology, bone health, neuroscience, nephrology, and inflammation.

Source: Investor Presentation

On February 4th, 2025, Amgen announced fourth quarter and full year earnings results. Revenue grew 11% to $9.1 billion, which was $230 million more than expected. Adjusted earnings-per-share of $5.31 compared favorably to $4.71 in the prior year and was $0.23 ahead of estimates.

For the year, revenue grew 19% to $33.4 billion while adjusted earnings-per-share of $19.84 compared to $18.65 in 2023.

Amgen had a successful 2024 as 21 products achieved record sales. For the quarter, growth was primarily due to a 14% increase in volumes. Excluding the addition of Horizon Therapeutics, product sales improved 10% and volume was up 15%.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on Amgen Inc. (AMGN) (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Dog of the Dow #3: Merck & Company (MRK)

Merck & Company is one of the largest healthcare companies in the world. Merck manufactures prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies, and animal health products.

Merck employs 68,000 people around the world and generates annual revenues of more than $63 billion.

Source: Investor Presentation

On February 4th, 2025, Merck announced fourth quarter and full year results for the period ending December 31st, 2024.

For the quarter, revenue improved 7% to $15.6 billion, which was $110 million above estimates. Adjusted earnings-per-share was $1.72 compared to $0.03 the prior year and $0.04 more than expected.

For the year, revenue increased 7% to $64.2 billion while adjusted earnings-per-share of $7.65.

Keytruda, which treats cancers such as melanoma that cannot be removed by surgery and non-small cell lung cancer, continues to be the key driver of growth for the company as sales for the drug were up 19% to $7.8 billion during the period.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on MRK (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Dog of the Dow #2: Chevron Corporation (CVX)

Chevron is one of the largest oil majors in the world. The company sees the bulk of its earnings from its upstream segment and has a higher crude oil and natural gas production ratio than most of its peers.

Chevron has increased its dividend for 38 consecutive years, placing it on the Dividend Aristocrats list.

In 2023, Chevron agreed to Acquire Hess (HES) for $53 billion in an all-stock deal. If the deal closes, Chevron will purchase the highly profitable Stabroek block in Guyana and Bakken assets and thus it will greatly enhance its output and free cash flow.

In late January, Chevron reported (1/31/25) results for the fourth quarter of 2024. Production dipped -1% over the prior year’s fourth quarter due to downtime in some fields, despite record Permian output after the acquisition of PDC Energy.

In addition, the price of oil decreased and refining margins plunged to normal levels after two years of blowout levels. As a result, earnings-per-share fell -40%, from $3.45 to $2.06, missing the analysts’ consensus by $0.05.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on Chevron Corporation (CVX)  (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Dog of the Dow #1: Verizon Communications (VZ)

Verizon Communications was created by a merger between Bell Atlantic Corp and GTE Corp in June 2000. Verizon is one of the largest wireless carriers in the country.

Wireless contributes three-quarters of all revenues, and broadband and cable services account for about a quarter of sales. The company’s network covers ~300 million people and 98% of the U.S.

On January 24th, 2025, Verizon announced fourth quarter and full year results. For the quarter, revenue grew 1.7% to $35.7 billion, which beat estimates by $360 million.

Source: Investor Presentation

Adjusted earnings-per-share of $1.10 compared favorably to $1.08 in the prior year and was in-line with expectations. For the year, grew 0.6% to $134.8 billion while adjusted earnings-per-share $4.59 compared to $4.71 in 2023.

For the quarter, Verizon had postpaid phone net additions of 568K, which was better than the 449K net additions the company had in the same period last year. Retail postpaid net additions totaled 426K.

Wireless retail postpaid phone churn rate remains low at 0.89%. Wireless revenue grew 3.1% to $20.0 billion while the Consumer segment increased 2.2% to $27.6 billion.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on VZ (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Final Thoughts

Given the descriptions above, the Dogs of the Dow are clearly a very diverse group of blue-chip stocks that each enjoy significant competitive advantages and lengthy histories of paying rising dividends.

As a result, this investing strategy is a great, low-risk way for unsophisticated investors to approach dividend growth investing.

While it may not outperform the broader market every year, it is virtually guaranteed to provide investors with a combination of attractive current yield with steadily rising income over time.

If you are interested in finding high-quality dividend growth stocks and/or other high-yield securities and income securities, the following Sure Dividend resources will be useful:

High-Yield Individual Security Research

Other Sure Dividend Resources

Published on February 25th, 2025 by Bob Ciura

High dividend stocks means more income for every dollar invested. All other things equal, the higher the dividend yield, the better.

In this research report, we analyze 10 dividend dynamos offering high dividend yields of 5.0% and greater.

The free high dividend stocks list spreadsheet below has our full list of individual securities (stocks, REITs, MLPs, etc.) with with 5%+ dividend yields.

You can download a free copy by clicking on the link below:

 

Not only do the stocks in this article have high yields above 5%, they are also generating strong growth.

The combination of a high starting yield, plus long-term growth, could produce strong total returns in the years ahead.

To qualify for this list, we screened out any high-yield stocks with our lowest Dividend Risk Score of ‘F’, to try to filter out stocks in danger of cutting their dividends.

The 10 stocks are sorted by five-year expected underlying business growth, from lowest to highest.

Table of Contents

Dividend Dynamo #10: Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS)

• 5-year annual expected business growth: 5.0%

Bank of Nova Scotia (often called Scotiabank) is the fourth-largest financial institution in Canada behind the Royal Bank of Canada, the Toronto-Dominion Bank and Bank of Montreal.

Scotiabank reports in four core business segments – Canadian Banking, International Banking, Global Wealth Management, and Global Banking & Markets.

Scotiabank reported fiscal Q4 and full-year 2024 results on 12/03/24. For the quarter, revenue rose 3.1% to C$8.5 billion, while non-interest expenses fell 4.2% to C$5.3 billion. Provision for credit losses (“PCL”) declined by 18% year over year (“YOY”) to C$1.0 billion, weighing less on earnings compared to a year ago.

As a result, net income rose 25% to C$1.7 billion and diluted earnings per share (“EPS”) rose 23% to C$1.22. The bank’s PCL as a percentage of average net loans & acceptances was 0.54%, down from 0.65% a year ago, whereas the PCL on impaired loans as a percentage of average net loans & acceptances was 0.55%, up from 0.42% a year ago.

The fiscal year saw revenue rising 4.5% to C$33.7 billion. Non-interest expenses increased by 3.0% to C$19.7 billion, while PCL rose 18% to C$4.1 billion.

The PCL as a percentage of average net loans & acceptances was 0.53%, up from 0.44% a year ago, whereas the PCL on impaired loans as a percentage of average net loans & acceptances was 0.46%, up from 0.32% a year ago.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on BNS (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Dividend Dynamo #9: Canandaigua National Corporation (CNND)

• 5-year annual expected business growth: 5.0%

Canandaigua National Corporation (CNC) is the parent company of The Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Company (CNB) and Canandaigua National Trust Company of Florida (CNTF), offering a wide range of financial services, including banking, lending, mortgage services, trust, investment management, and insurance.

With 23 branches across its service areas, CNC is focus on serving local communities by providing personalized financial solutions to individuals, businesses, and municipalities. CNC emphasizes community banking, focusing on reinvesting in the local economy through a diverse lending portfolio.

Moving forward, we expect CNC’s EPS to grow at a CAGR of 5%. Note that the company has increased its dividend every year since 2002, marking 22 years of consecutive annual dividend increases.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on CNND (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Dividend Dynamo #8: United Bancorp, Inc. (UBCP)

• 5-year annual expected business growth: 6.0%

United Bancorp a financial holding company based in the United States, operating primarily through its wholly-owned subsidiary, United Bank.

The company offers a wide range of banking services including retail and commercial banking, mortgage lending, and investment services.

Some of its other solutions include checking and savings accounts, personal and business loans, as well as wealth management.

On August 22nd, 2024, United Bancorp raised its dividend by 1.4% to a quarterly rate of $0.1775. On a year-over-year basis, this was a 4.4% increase.

On November 6th, 2024, United Bancorp posted its Q3 results for the period ending September 30th, 2024. The company reported total interest income of $9.94 million, which was up 3.0% year-over-year.

This growth was primarily driven by a 13.9% rise in interest income on loans, despite a 32.9% decline in loan fee income and a 15.2% decrease in interest income from securities.

However, total interest expenses increased by about 23.4%, leading to a 6.5% decline in net interest income, which fell to $6.1 million.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on UBCP (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Dividend Dynamo #7: Edison International (EIX)

• 5-year annual expected business growth: 6.7%

Edison International is a renewable energy company that is active in energy generation and distribution. It also operates an energy services and a technologies business. The company was founded in 1987 and is headquartered in Rosemead, CA.

On October 29, 2024, Edison International reported its financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2024.

The company delivered a GAAP net income of $516 million, or $1.33 per diluted share, marking a substantial increase from $155 million, or $0.40 per diluted share, in the same quarter last year.

On an adjusted basis, Edison achieved core earnings of $582 million, or $1.51 per diluted share, up from $531 million, or $1.38 per diluted share, in Q3 2023.

Revenue for the quarter was $5.20 billion, reflecting a 10.61% year-over-year growth and surpassing expectations by $192.39 million.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on Edison International (EIX) (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Dividend Dynamo #6: Magna International Inc. (MGA)

• 5-year annual expected business growth: 7.0%

Magna International Inc. is dual-listed on the New York Stock Exchange and the Toronto Stock Exchange. The company began working with General Motors (GM) back in 1957.

Since then, it has become the largest automotive supplier in North America and the fourth-largest in the world. Magna has increased its dividend every year since 2010.

Magna reported its Q4 and full-year 2024 results on 02/14/2025. For the quarter, its sales were $10.6 billion – 2.0% higher versus a year ago – in-line with the global light vehicle production. Magna’s income from operations before income taxes rose 23% to $381 million.

Adjusted earnings before interest and taxes (“EBIT”) rose 23% to $689 million and adjusted earnings per share (“EPS”) of $1.69 rose 27% year over year (“YOY”).

The full-year results provide a bigger picture. Sales were essentially flat at $42.8 billion. Adjusted EBIT rose 4.1% to $2.3 billion. And the adjusted EPS declined 1.5% to $5.41. Magna increased its quarterly dividend by 2.1%, equating an annualized payout of $1.94.

Magna initiated its 2025 sales forecast at $38.6-$40.2 billion and adjusted EBIT margin at 5.3-5.8%.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on MGA (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Dividend Dynamo #5: AES Corp. (AES)

• 5-year annual expected business growth: 7.0%

The AES (Applied Energy Services) Corporation was founded in 1981 as an energy consulting company. It now has businesses in 14 countries and a portfolio of approximately 160 generation facilities.

AES produces power through various fuel types, such as gas, renewables, coal, and oil/diesel. The company has more than 36,000 Gross MW in operation.

AES Corporation reported third quarter results on October 31st, 2024, for the period ending September 30th, 2024. Adjusted EPS rose 18% to $0.71 for Q3 2024.

The company constructed and acquired 2.8 GW of renewable energy year-to-date, and is on course to add 3.6 GW of new projects online in 2024.

Source: Investor Presentation

Leadership expects to achieve the high end of its 2024 guidance for adjusted EPS of $1.87 to $1.97 for the full fiscal year. Additionally, the company reaffirms it also still expects annual EPS growth of 7% to 9% from 2023 through 2027.

The company is actively engaged in developing and acquiring new energy projects.

It currently has a backlog of 12.7 GW of renewables. AES expects to complete the majority of these projects through 2027.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on AES (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Dividend Dynamo #4: Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP (BIP)

• 5-year annual expected business growth: 7.0%

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. is one of the largest global owners and operators of infrastructure networks, which includes operations in sectors such as energy, water, freight, passengers, and data.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners is one of four publicly-traded listed partnerships that is operated by Brookfield Asset Management (BAM).

BIP has delivered 8% compound annual distribution growth over the past 10 years.

Source: Investor Presentation

BIP reported resilient results for Q4 2024 on 01/30/25. The diversified utility reported funds from operations of $646 million, up 3.9% year over year. FFO per unit was $0.82, up 3.8%.

For the full year, FFO per unit was $3.12, up 5.8% from the previous year. Normalized for the impact of foreign exchange, the FFOPU growth would have been 10%, which better reflects the business’s operational strength.

For the year, it achieved its target of $2 billion capital recycling proceeds. It also deployed +$1.1 billion across its backlog of organic growth projects and three tuck-in acquisitions, which should help contribute to growth. It also added ~$1.8 billion of new projects to its capital backlog.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Dividend Dynamo #3: United Parcel Service (UPS)

• 5-year annual expected business growth: 8.0%

United Parcel Service is a logistics and package delivery company that offers services including transportation, distribution, ground freight, ocean freight, insurance, and financing.

Its operations are split into three segments: US Domestic Package, International Package, and Supply Chain & Freight.

On January 30th, 2025, UPS reported fourth quarter 2024 results for the period ending December 31st, 2024. For the quarter, the company generated revenue of $25.3 billion, a 1.5% year-over-year increase.

Source: Investor Presentation

The U.S. Domestic segment (making up 68% of sales) saw a 2.2% revenue increase, with International also posting a 6.9% revenue increase, while Supply Chain Solutions saw a 9.1% decrease. Adjusted net income equaled $2.75 per share, up 11.3% year-over-year.

The company announced it is reducing its largest customer’s volume by over 50% by H2 2026, insourced 100% of its UPS SurePost product, and is redesigning its end-to-end process to deliver $1 billion in savings.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on UPS (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Dividend Dynamo #2: HA Sustainable Infrastructure Capital (HASI)

• 5-year annual expected business growth: 9.0%

Hannon Armstrong is a U.S. public company that invests in climate change solutions, providing capital to leading companies in energy efficiency, renewable energy, and other sustainable infrastructure markets.

The company’s portfolio of assets is worth around $13.1 billion and is split between three market segments: Its Behind the Meter business (46% of assets) focuses on the installation of solar power, electric storage, and other heat and power systems.

The Grid-Connected segment (30% of assets) involves investments in grid-connected renewable energy projects, such as solar and off/on-shore wind projects, whose generated yield the company then sells on the wholesale energy markets.

Finally, occupying the rest of its portfolio (24% of assets), are the company’s Fuels, Transport, & Nature projects, enabling the use of natural resources, such as its projects to slow pollution runoff across the Chesapeake Bay region.

Source: Investor Presentation

On November 7th, 2024, Hannon Armstrong reported its Q3 results for the period ending September 30th, 2024. For the quarter, total revenues fell by 8.5% year-over-year to about $82 million.

The drop in revenues was mainly due to lower rental income due to asset sales as well as lower gains on assets sold compared to last year.

Adjusted EPS fell by 16% to $0.52 compared to the prior-year period. The drop was mainly due to lower revenues, offset partially by growth in adjusted net investment income due to a larger portfolio.

The company’s pipeline remained robust, including $5.5 billion of asset opportunities. Management affirmed its prior outlook, expecting to deliver adjusted EPS CAGR between 8% and 10% through 2026.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on HASI (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Dividend Dynamo #1: Whirlpool Corp. (WHR)

• 5-year annual expected business growth: 11.0%

Whirlpool Corporation, founded in 1955 and headquartered in Benton Harbor, MI, is a leading home appliance company with top brands Whirlpool, KitchenAid, and Maytag.

Roughly half of the company’s sales are in North America, but Whirlpool does business around the world under twelve principal brand names. The company, which employs about 44,000 people, generated nearly $17 billion in sales in 2024.

Source: Investor Presentation

On January 29th, 2025, Whirpool reported fourth quarter 2024 results. Sales for the quarter totaled $4.14 billion, down 18.7% from fourth quarter 2023. Ongoing earnings per diluted share was $4.57 for the quarter, 19% higher than the previous year’s $3.85 per share.

Whirlpool issued its 2025 guidance, seeing ongoing earnings-per-share coming in at approximately $10.00 on revenue of $15.8 billion. Additionally, Whirlpool expects cash provided by operating activities to total roughly $1 billion, with $500 to $600 million in free cash flow.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on WHR (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Final Thoughts

High dividend stocks are naturally appealing to income investors, especially when the S&P 500 Index is only yielding roughly 1.3% on average.

Even better, these 10 dividend dynamos combine a high current yield, with the potential for long-term business growth. In this way, they could provide strong total returns through the combination of growth and yield.

Investors should continue to monitor each stock to make sure their fundamentals and growth remain on track, particularly among stocks with extremely high dividend yields.

Additional Reading

If you are interested in finding other high-yield securities, the following Sure Dividend resources may be useful:

High-Yield Individual Security Research

Other Sure Dividend Resources

Updated on February 26th, 2025 by Bob Ciura
Spreadsheet data updated daily

We recommend long-term investors focus on high-quality dividend stocks. To that end, we view the Dividend Aristocrats as among the best dividend stocks to buy-and-hold for the long run.

The Dividend Aristocrats have a long history of outperforming the market when it comes to risk-adjusted returns. There are currently 69 Dividend Aristocrats.

You can download an Excel spreadsheet of all 69 Dividend Aristocrats (with metrics that matter such as dividend yields and price-to-earnings ratios) by clicking the link below:

 

Disclaimer: Sure Dividend is not affiliated with S&P Global in any way. S&P Global owns and maintains The Dividend Aristocrats Index. The information in this article and downloadable spreadsheet is based on Sure Dividend’s own review, summary, and analysis of the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats ETF (NOBL) and other sources, and is meant to help individual investors better understand this ETF and the index upon which it is based. None of the information in this article or spreadsheet is official data from S&P Global. Consult S&P Global for official information.

This article begins with an overview of the Dividend Aristocrats list. Then, we list our top 10 Dividend Aristocrats you’ve never heard of.

The list is comprised of 10 Dividend Aristocrats, all of which have raised their dividends for over 25 years in a row, and are included in the S&P 500 Index.

In addition, these 10 Dividend Aristocrats tend to get much less coverage in the financial media, and have smaller followings than the largest Dividend Aristocrats.

Table of Contents

Dividend Aristocrats Overview

The requirements to be a Dividend Aristocrat are:

• Be in the S&P 500
• Have 25+ consecutive years of dividend increases
• Meet certain minimum size & liquidity requirements

All Dividend Aristocrats are high-quality businesses based on their long dividend histories. A company cannot pay rising dividends for 25+ years without having a strong and durable competitive advantage.

But not all Dividend Aristocrats make equally good investments today. That’s where the spreadsheet in this article comes into play. You can use the Dividend Aristocrats spreadsheet to quickly find quality dividend investment ideas.

The list of all 69 Dividend Aristocrats is valuable because it gives you a concise list of all S&P 500 stocks with 25+ consecutive years of dividend increases (that also meet certain minimum size and liquidity requirements).

A sector breakdown of the Dividend Aristocrats Index is shown below:

The top 2 sectors by weight in the Dividend Aristocrats are Industrials and Consumer Staples. The Dividend Aristocrats Index is tilted toward Consumer Staples and Industrials relative to the S&P 500.

These 2 sectors make up over 40% of the Dividend Aristocrats Index, but less than 20% of the S&P 500.

The Dividend Aristocrats Index is also significantly underweight the Information Technology sector, with a ~3.5% allocation compared with over 20% allocation within the S&P 500.

The Dividend Aristocrat Index is filled with stable industry giants with market caps above $200 billion, such as Coca-Cola (KO), ExxonMobil (XOM), and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ).

However, there are smaller Dividend Aristocrats that are worth paying attention to. The following 10 Dividend Aristocrats have strong business models, durable competitive advantages, and long-term dividend growth potential.

Dividend Aristocrat You’ve Never Heard Of: FactSet Research Systems (FDS)

FactSet Research Systems is a financial data and analytics firm founded in 1978. It provides integrated financial information and analytical tools to the investment community in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia-Pacific.

The company provides insight and information through research, analytics, trading workflow solutions, content and technology solutions, and wealth management.

Source: Investor Presentation

On December 19th, 2024, FactSet Research Systems announced Q1 2025 results, reporting non-GAAP EPS of $4.37 for the period, beating market consensus by $0.09 while revenue rose 4.9% to $568.7 million.

FactSet Research Systems kicked off fiscal 2025 with solid, yet measured growth in Q1, reporting GAAP revenues of $568.7 million, a 4.9% year-over-year increase.

The revenue boost was driven by strong performance across its wealth management, asset owner, and institutional client segments.

Organic Annual Subscription Value (ASV), a key performance metric, rose 4.5% to $2.25 billion, reflecting sustained demand for FactSet’s financial data and analytics solutions.

FactSet has grown its earnings-per-share by an average compound growth rate of 10.3% over the last 10 years. Its investments and improved product offerings could lead to significant margin expansion in the following years.

We have increased our EPS estimate for 2025 to $17.10, matching the midpoint of the management’s guidance, but we have maintained our 8.5% annual earnings growth forecast for the next five years.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on FDS (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Dividend Aristocrat You’ve Never Heard Of: Erie Indemnity (ERIE)

Erie Indemnity is an insurance company that has established itself in life insurance, auto, home, and commercial insurance. The company’s history dates to the 1920s.

Erie Indemnity reported its third quarter earnings results on October 31. Revenue totaled $999 million during the quarter, up 16% year-over-year.

Revenue growth was driven by higher management fee revenues (for policy issuance and renewal services), which rose by 19% year-over-year. Administrative services fee revenue grew 6%.

Erie Indemnity’s investment income was up substantially on a year-over-year basis during the quarter, which can be explained by tailwinds from higher interest rates.

Erie Indemnity generated GAAP earnings-per-share of $3.06 during the third quarter, which was up by 20% year-over-year.

Like other insurance companies, Erie Indemnity has a sizable float–cash that it has received through premiums that it invests. Therefore, its financial results are somewhat dependent on market rates.

We believe that Erie Indemnity should be able to grow its profits at a mid-single-digit rate over the next five years.

Growth will be driven by higher premium revenue, while further increases in investment income could have a positive impact on EPS growth as well.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on ERIE (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Dividend Aristocrat You’ve Never Heard Of: Eversource Energy (ES)

Eversource Energy is a diversified holding company with subsidiaries that provide regulated electric, gas, and water distribution service in the Northeast U.S.

FactSet, Erie Indemnity, and Eversource Energy are the three new Dividend Aristocrats for 2025.

The company’s utilities serve more than 4 million customers after acquiring NStar’s Massachusetts utilities in 2012, Aquarion in 2017, and Columbia Gas in 2020.

Eversource has delivered steady growth to shareholders for many years.

Source: Investor Presentation

On February 11th, 2025, Eversource Energy released its fourth-quarter and full-year 2024 results. For the quarter, the company reported net earnings of $72.5 million, a significant improvement from a net loss of $(1,288.5) million in the same quarter of last year, which reflected the impact of the company’s exit from offshore wind investments.

The company reported earnings per share of $0.20, compared with a loss per share of $(3.68) in the prior year. For the full year 2024, Eversource reported GAAP earnings of $811.7 million, or $2.27 per share, compared with a full-year 2023 loss of $(442.2) million, or $(1.26) per share.

On a non-GAAP recurring basis, the company earned $1,634.0 million, or $4.57 per share, representing a 5.3% increase from 2023.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on ES (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Dividend Aristocrat You’ve Never Heard Of: Air Products & Chemicals (ADP)

Air Products & Chemicals is one of the world’s largest producers and distributors of atmospheric and process gases, serving other businesses in the industrial, technology, energy, and materials sectors.

Air Products & Chemicals operates through three main business units: Industrial Gases – Americas, Industrial Gases EMEA, and Industrial Gases – Asia.

The company has a long track record of generating consistent growth.

Source: Investor Presentation

Air Products & Chemicals reported financial results for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024 on November 7. The company generated revenues of $3.19 billion during the quarter, which was up 0.3% year-over-year, missing the analyst consensus estimate by $30 million.

Air Products & Chemicals was able to generate earnings-per-share of $3.56 during the fourth quarter, which was up 13% compared to the previous year’s period.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on APD (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Dividend Aristocrat You’ve Never Heard Of: Fastenal Co. (FAST)

Fastenal began in 1967 when Bob Kierlin and four friends pooled together $30,000 to open the first store. The original intent was to dispense nuts and bolts via vending machine, but that idea got off the ground after 20 years.

The company went public in 1987 and today provides fasteners, tools and supplies to its customers via 1,597 public branches, 1,986 active Onsite locations and over 123,000 managed inventory devices.

Source: Investor Presentation

In mid-January, Fastenal reported (1/17/25) results for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024. It grew its net sales 4% over the prior year’s quarter thanks to growth in Onsite locations while prices remained flat.

Earnings-per-share remained flat at $0.46, missing the analysts’ consensus by $0.02. Fastenal has missed the analysts’ estimates only twice in the last 21 quarters.

It posted record earnings-per-share in 2022 and 2023 and remained close to its record earnings last year, as an increase in Onsite locations almost offset the effect of a soft manufacturing environment.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on FAST (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Dividend Aristocrat You’ve Never Heard Of: Brown & Brown (BRO)

Brown & Brown Inc. is a leading insurance brokerage firm that provides risk management solutions to both individuals and businesses, with a focus on property & casualty insurance. Brown & Brown has a notably high level of insider ownership.

Brown & Brown posted fourth quarter and full-year earnings on January 27th, 2025, and results were better than expected on both the top and bottom lines.

The company posted adjusted earnings-per-share of 86 cents for the quarter, beating estimates by nine cents. Revenue soared 15% year-over-year to $1.18 billion, besting expectations by $60 million.

Revenue was up 15.4% year-over-year, with 13.8% of that being organic revenue growth and the balance from acquisitions. Income before taxes came to $275 million, falling 23% year-over-year as margin fell from 23.2% from 34.7% of revenue.

Its competitive advantage comes from its willingness to execute small and frequent acquisitions. This growth-by-acquisition strategy gives the company an enduring opportunity to continue growing its business for the foreseeable future.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on BRO (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Dividend Aristocrat You’ve Never Heard Of: C.H. Robinson Worldwide (CHRW)

Charles Henry Robinson founded C.H. Robinson Worldwide in the early 1900s. The company is now an American Fortune 500 provider of multimodal transportation services and third-party logistics.

The company’s services are freight transportation, transportation management, brokerage, and warehousing. CHRW also offers truckload, air freight, intermodal, and ocean transportation.

On October 30st, 2024, C.H. Robinson Worldwide reported results for the third quarter for Fiscal Year (FY)2024. The company reported strong financial results for the third quarter of 2024, ending September 30.

The company achieved a significant 15.5% increase in gross profits, totaling $723.8 million, and a 58.7% rise in income from operations to $180.1 million.

Adjusted operating margin grew by 660 basis points to 24.5%, with adjusted earnings per share increasing 45.5% to $1.28. These results were driven by disciplined volume growth, improvements in operating leverage, and enhanced profitability across divisions.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on CHRW (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Dividend Aristocrat You’ve Never Heard Of: Albemarle (ALB)

Albemarle is the largest producer of lithium and second largest producer of bromine in the world. The two products account for nearly two-thirds of annual sales. Albemarle produces lithium from its salt brine deposits in the U.S. and Chile.

The company has two joint ventures in Australia that also produce lithium. Albemarle’s Chile assets offer a very low-cost source of lithium. The company operates in nearly 100 countries.

On February 12th, 2025, Albemarle announced fourth quarter and full year results. For the quarter, revenue fell 48% to $1.23 billion and was $110 million less than expected.

Source: Investor Presentation

Adjusted earnings-per-share of -$1.09 compared very unfavorably to $1.85 in the prior year and was $0.42 below estimates.

For the year, revenue declined 44% to $5.4 billion while adjusted earnings-per-share was -$2.34.

Results were impacted by asset write-offs and weaker average prices for lithium. For the quarter, revenue for Energy Storage was down 63.2% to $616.8 million.

This segment was impact by weaker volumes (-10%) and lower prices (-53%). Revenues for Specialties were lower by 2.0% to $332.9 million as volume (+3%) was offset by a decrease in pricing (-5%).

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on ALB (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Dividend Aristocrat You’ve Never Heard Of: Nordson Corporation (NDSN)

Nordson was founded in 1954 in Amherst, Ohio by brothers Eric and Evan Nord, but the company can trace its roots back to 1909 with the U.S. Automatic Company.

Today the company has operations in over 35 countries and engineers, manufactures, and markets products used for dispensing adhesives, coatings, sealants, biomaterials, plastics, and other materials, with applications ranging from diapers and straws to cell phones and aerospace.

Source: Investor Presentation

On August 14th, 2024, Nordson increased its dividend by 15% to $0.78 per share quarterly, marking 61 years of increases.

On December 11th, 2024, Nordson reported fourth quarter results for the period ending October 31st, 2024. For the quarter, the company reported sales of $744 million, 4% higher compared to $719 million in Q4 2023, which was driven by a positive acquisition impact, and offset by organic decrease of 3%.

Industrial Precision saw sales decrease by 3%, while the Medical and Fluid Solutions and Advanced Technology Solutions segments had sales increases of 19% and 5%, respectively. The company generated adjusted earnings per share of $2.78, a 3% increase compared to the same prior-year quarter.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on NDSN (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Dividend Aristocrat You’ve Never Heard Of: Expeditors International of Washington (EXPD)

Expeditors is a global logistics company headquartered in Seattle, Washington. The company was founded in 1979 as a single-office ocean forwarder in Seattle.

Its services include the consolidation or forwarding of air and ocean freight, customs brokerage, vendor consolidation, cargo insurance, time definite transportation services, order management, warehousing and distribution, and customized logistics solutions.

Currently, the company has over 250 locations and ~17,500 employees worldwide. In 2023, the company reported $17.1 billion in revenue. The company has increased its dividend for 29 consecutive years.

On November 5th, 2024, EXPD reported third-quarter results for Fiscal Year (FY)2024. The company reported strong third-quarter 2024 results, with earnings per share (EPS) rising 41% to $1.63, and net earnings increasing 34% to $230 million compared to Q3 2023.

Operating income grew 40% to $302 million, supported by a 37% revenue increase to $3 billion. The company achieved significant growth in airfreight tonnage (+19%) and ocean container volumes (+12%), driven by proactive freight handling amid geopolitical disruptions and holiday shipping preparation.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on EXPD (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Additional Reading

The Dividend Aristocrats are among the best dividend growth stocks to buy and hold for the long run. But the Dividend Aristocrats list is not the only way to quickly screen for stocks that regularly pay rising dividends.

We have compiled a reading list for additional dividend growth stock investing ideas:

Updated on February 26th, 2025 by Bob Ciura
Spreadsheet data updated daily

Most companies distribute dividends on a quarterly or semi-annual payment schedule, but there are some that pay dividends monthly.

However, the number of companies that distribute monthly dividends is limited.

You can see all the monthly dividend stocks here.

You can also download our full Excel spreadsheet of all monthly dividend stocks (along with metrics that matter, like dividend yield and payout ratio) by clicking on the link below:

 

This article provides an overview of monthly dividend stocks, and includes a top 10 list of monthly dividend stocks that most income investors haven’t heard of.

Table of Contents

Monthly Dividend Stocks Overview

Monthly dividend payments are beneficial for one group of investors in particular; retirees who rely on dividend stocks for income.

With that said, monthly dividend stocks are better under all circumstances (everything else being equal), because they allow for returns to be compounded on a more frequent basis.

More frequent compounding results in better total returns, particularly over long periods of time.

Of course, there are also potential risk factors when investing in monthly dividend stocks.

Investors should note many monthly dividend stocks are highly speculative. On average, monthly dividend stocks tend to have elevated payout ratios.

An elevated payout ratio means there’s less margin for error to continue paying the dividend if business results suffer a temporary (or permanent) decline.

As a result, we have real concerns that many monthly dividend payers will not be able to continue paying rising dividends in the event of a recession.

The following 10 dividend stocks pay dividends each month, but have risk factors and unique business models that investors should carefully consider before buying.

The following list is comprised of 10 monthly dividend stocks with market caps below $3 billion, which means they are smaller companies than the more widely-followed monthly dividend stocks.

The list excludes extremely speculative monthly dividend stocks such as oil and gas royalty trusts. It also excludes mortgage REITs which are also high-risk securities.

The 10 monthly dividend stocks you’ve never heard of are sorted by dividend yield, from lowest to highest.

Monthly Dividend Stock You’ve Never Heard Of: Global Water Resources (GWRS)

Global Water Resources is a water resource management company. It owns, operates, and manages water, wastewater, and recycled water utilities in Phoenix, Arizona.

It owns 25 water and wastewater utilities in Phoenix and serves more than 74,000 people. It also recycles more than 1 billion gallons of water every year.

The company believes it has the capacity for hundreds of thousands of service connections, but its current scale is quite small.

Annual revenue is about $42 million, and the stock trades with a market capitalization of ~$300 million.

Source: Investor relations

On November 6th, 2024, Global Water reported its Q3 results for the period ending September 30th, 2024. Quarterly revenues fell by 1.5% year-over-year to $14.3 million.

The drop in revenue was mainly attributable to the recognition of $0.5 million in unregulated revenue related to infrastructure coordination and financing agreements (ICFAs) in the third quarter of 2023 that did not recur this time around.

Still, regulated revenue increased 2.2% to $14.3 million, primarily due to total active service connections rising 4.7% to 63,889.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on GWRS (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Monthly Dividend Stock You’ve Never Heard Of: Phillips Edison & Company (PECO)

Phillips Edison & Company is a real estate investment trust that is one of the nation’s largest owners and operators of omni-channel grocery-anchored shopping centers.

As of its latest quarterly filings, Phillips Edison & Company owned equity interests in 316 shopping centers, including 294 wholly-owned shopping centers and 22 shopping centers owned through three unconsolidated joint ventures, which comprised about 35.7 million square feet in 31 states.

In addition to managing its shopping centers, its third-party investment management business provides comprehensive real estate management services to its unconsolidated joint ventures and one private fund.

Phillips Edison & Company generates just over $660 million in annual revenues, pays dividends on a monthly basis, and is based in Cincinnati, Ohio.

On February 6th, 2025, Phillips Edison & Company released its Q4 and full-year results for the period ending December 31st, 2024. For the quarter, total revenues were $173.0 million, an increase of 12.1% year-over-year.

Same-center NOI grew by 6.5% to $110.4 million, while new and renewal leasing spreads stood at 30.2% and 20.8%, respectively. Leased portfolio occupancy remained strong at 97.7%.

Despite slightly higher interest and operating expenses, Nareit FFO for the quarter rose 12.0% to $83.8 million. Nareit FFO per share was $0.61, up from $0.56 last year. For the year, Nareit FFO came in at $2.37.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on PECO (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Monthly Dividend Stock You’ve Never Heard Of: STAG Industrial (STAG)

STAG Industrial is an owner and operator of industrial real estate. It is focused on single-tenant industrial properties and has ~560 buildings across 41 states in the United States.

The focus of this REIT on single-tenant properties might create higher risk compared to multi-tenant properties, as the former are either fully occupied or completely vacant.

Source: Investor Presentation

However, STAG Industrial executes a deep quantitative and qualitative analysis on its tenants. As a result, it has incurred credit losses that have been less than 0.1% of its revenues since its IPO.

In mid-February, STAG Industrial reported (2/12/25) financial results for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024. Core FFO-per-share grew 5% over the prior year’s quarter, from $0.58 to $0.61, exceeding the analysts’ consensus by $0.01, thanks to hikes in rent rates.

Net operating income grew 9% over the prior year’s quarter even though the occupancy rate dipped sequentially from 97.1% to 96.5%. On the other hand, interest expense increased 25% year-on-year due to high interest rates.

STAG expects core FFO per share of $2.46-$2.50 for 2025.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on STAG Industrial Inc. (STAG) (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Monthly Dividend Stock You’ve Never Heard Of: EPR Properties (EPR)

EPR Properties is a specialty real estate investment trust, or REIT, that invests in properties in specific market segments that require industry knowledge to operate effectively.

It selects properties it believes have strong return potential in Entertainment, Recreation, and Education. The portfolio includes about $7 billion in investments across 350+ locations in 44 states, including over 200 tenants.

Source: Investor Presentation

EPR posted third quarter earnings on October 30th, 2024, and results were better than expected on both the top and bottom lines. Funds-from-operations came to $1.29, which was two cents ahead of estimates. FFO was down from $1.47 per share a year ago. On a dollar basis, FFO fell from $113 million to just over $100 million.

Revenue was off almost 5% year-over-year to $180.5 million, which was $21.5 million ahead of expectations. For the nine months, revenue was off from $534 million to $521 million.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on EPR (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Monthly Dividend Stock You’ve Never Heard Of: LTC Properties (LTC)

LTC Properties is a REIT that invests in senior housing and skilled nursing properties. Its portfolio consists of approximately 50% senior housing and 50% skilled nursing properties.

Just like other healthcare REITs, LTC benefits from a strong secular trend, namely the high growth of the population that is above 80 years old. This growth results from the aging of the baby boomers’ generation and the steady rise of life expectancy thanks to sustained progress in medical sciences.

The REIT owns 194 investments in 26 states, with 31 operating partners.

Source: Investor Presentation

In late October, LTC reported (10/29/24) financial results for the third quarter of fiscal 2024. Funds from operations (FFO) per share grew 5% over the prior year’s quarter, from $0.65 to $0.68, but missed the analysts’ consensus by $0.01.

The increase in FFO per share resulted primarily from higher income from previously transitioned properties and higher income from loan originations. LTC drastically improved its leverage ratio (Net Debt to EBITDA) from 5.3x to 4.2x thanks to various asset sales.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on LTC (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Monthly Dividend Stock You’ve Never Heard Of: Gladstone Land Corp. (LAND)

Gladstone Land Corporation is a real estate investment trust, or REIT, that specializes in the owning and operating of farmland in the U.S.

The trust owns about 160 farms, comprising more than 110,000 acres of farmable land. Gladstone’s business is made up of three different options available to farmers, all of which are done on a triple-net basis.

The trust offers long-term sale leaseback transactions, traditional leases of farmland, and outright purchases of farm properties.

Gladstone posted fourth quarter and full-year earnings on February 19th, 2025, and results were somewhat weak. Funds-from-operations per-share came to just nine cents, widely missing estimates for 14 cents.

Revenue fell 14% year-over-year to $21.1 million, but did beat estimates by about $650k.

Total cash lease revenues fell, driven by lower fixed base cash rents, which was partially offset by additional participation rents recorded during the quarter.

Fixed base cash rents fell by about $4.9 million, which was due to the execution of certain lease agreements in 2024 where rent amounts were reduced.

In addition, a large farm in Florida was sold during the first quarter of 2024. Participation rents were driven higher by stronger production yields in almond and pistachio farms.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on LAND (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Monthly Dividend Stock You’ve Never Heard Of: Modiv Industrial REIT (MDV)

Modiv Industrial acquires, owns, and actively manages single-tenant net-lease industrial, retail, and office properties in the United States, focusing on strategically essential and mission-critical properties with predominantly investment-grade tenants.

As of its most recent filings, the company’s portfolio comprised 44 properties that occupied 4.6 million square feet of aggregate leasable area.

Modiv has nearly 43 properties in its portfolio that occupy 4.5 million square feet of aggregate leasable area.

Modiv reported its Q3 results for the period ending September 30th, 2024. For the quarter, rental income came in at $11.6 million, down 7.3% year-over-year.

This was mainly due to the elimination of some non-NNN tenant reimbursements related to the August 2023 portfolio disposition of 13 properties.

Management fee income was stable at nearly $66 million. Total income reached nearly $11.7 million, down 7.2% from $12.6 million last year.

AFFO was $3.7 million, or $0.34 per diluted share, in line with AFFO of $3.7 million, or $0.33 per diluted share, in the prior year period.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on MDV (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

 

Monthly Dividend Stock You’ve Never Heard Of: Gladstone Investment Corp. (GAIN)

Gladstone Investment is a business development company (BDC) that focuses on US-based small- and medium-sized companies.

Industries which Gladstone Investment targets include aerospace & defense, oil & gas, machinery, electronics, and media & communications.

A rundown of GAIN’s investment process can be seen in the image below:

Source: Investor Presentation

Gladstone Investment reported its second quarter (Q2 2024 ended September 30) earnings results on November 7. The company generated total investment income of $22.6 million during the quarter, which represents an increase of 2% compared to the prior quarter.

This was a better performance compared to the previous quarter, when the growth rate was negative.

Gladstone Investment’s adjusted net investment income-per-share totaled $0.24 during the fiscal second quarter. That was unchanged from the previous quarter’s level.

Gladstone Investment‘s net asset value per share totaled $12.49 on a per-share basis at the end of the quarter.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on GAIN (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Monthly Dividend Stock You’ve Never Heard Of: Gladstone Capital Corp. (GLAD)

Gladstone Capital is a business development company, or BDC, that primarily invests in small and medium businesses. These investments are made via a variety of equity (10% of portfolio) and debt instruments (90% of portfolio), generally with very high yields.

Loan size is typically in the $7 million to $30 million range and has terms up to seven years.

Source: Investor Presentation

Gladstone posted fourth quarter and full-year earnings on November 13th, 2024, and results were short of analyst estimates. Net investment income, which is akin to earnings, came to 50 cents per share.

NII was expected to be 53 cents, and was down from 57 cents in the prior quarter. Total investment income, which is a revenue measure, came to $23.7 million, down from $25.7 million in the previous quarter.

Total repayments and net proceeds were $12.6 million, down from $86.4 million in the prior quarter. Total investments at fair value rose 5.1% quarter-over-quarter to $796 million. Net asset value per common share was $21.18 in September, up from $20.18 in June.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on GLAD (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Monthly Dividend Stock You’ve Never Heard Of: Horizon Technology Finance (HRZN)

Horizon Technology Finance Corp. is a BDC that provides venture capital to small and medium–sized companies in the technology, life sciences, and healthcare–IT sectors.

The company has generated attractive risk–adjusted returns through directly originated senior secured loans and additional capital appreciation through warrants.

Source: Investor Presentation

On October 29th, 2024, Horizon released its Q3 results for the period ending September 30th, 2024. For the quarter, total investment income fell 15.5% year-over-year to $24.6.7 million, primarily due to lower interest income on investments from the debt investment portfolio.

More specifically, the company’s dollar-weighted annualized yield on average debt investments in Q3 of 2024 and Q3 of 2023 was 15.9% and 17.1%, respectively.

Net investment income per share (IIS) fell to $0.32, down from $0.53 compared to Q3-2023. Net asset value (NAV) per share landed at $9.06, down from $9.12 sequentially.

After paying its monthly distributions, Horizon’s undistributed spillover income as of June 30th, 2024 was $1.27 per share, indicating a considerable cash cushion.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on HRZN (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Additional Reading

Monthly dividend stocks may be more attractive for income investors due to their frequent payouts.

Additionally, many monthly dividend payers offer investors high yields. The combination of a monthly dividend payment and a high yield could be especially appealing.

We have compiled a reading list for additional dividend growth stock investing ideas: