Dividend-Paying Stocks To Buy For The Long Run

If there were a Mount Rushmore for dividend stocks, the tickers of the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats would be etched on the peak’s face. Each January, Standard & Poor’s compiles its index of aristocrats, stocks that have raised their dividend for at least 25 straight years. The current crop includes 51 companies that represent all 10 market sectors. Dividends remain a focus among both investors and U.S. companies.

For August, cash dividend payments totaled $34 billion, an all-time monthly record, reports Barron’s. Within the S&P 500 Index, 402 companies currently pay a dividend, the most since December 1999, according Standard & Poor’s. As a group, the aristocrats suffer from subpar operating momentum and rich valuations, averaging quadrix momentum scores (my proprietary rating system) of 47 and value scores of 49. And concerns about a potential rise in the dividend-taxation rate could be weighing on the shares.

Source: Forbes

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