Top Dividend Stocks Based on Dividend History, Yield and Payout

I write extensively on the U.S. Dividend Champion list maintained and updated by DRIP Investing. The list is comprised of stocks that have increased their dividend payout for at least 25 consecutive years.My initial Dividend Champion articles focused on just the Dividend Champions. However, DRIP Investing also maintains a Dividend Contenders list which is comprised of stocks with a history of raising dividends for the past 10-24 years.Combining April's Dividend Champions and Dividend Contenders into one list gives us a strong starting point of 242 stocks with long histories of raising dividends. Historical tests have also shown that stocks with higher yields and lower payout ratios have tended to outperform other stocks.With this information in tow, I ranked the yields and payout ratios of the 242 stocks with histories of 10+ years of dividend increases. The yield and payout ratio ranks were added to create an average... Read more