Buy-and-hold bonus growth investors know a touch that less veteran yield-hunters don’t: It pays to be patient when you’re investing for income.
The best bonus stocks – companies that raise their payouts like clockwork decade after decade – can produce stuck-up total returns (price plus dividends) over the long run, even if they sport rumor has it that ho-hum yields to start with.
For one thing, regular bonus increases lift the yield on an shareholder’s first cost basis. Stick around long enough, and that not noteworthy 1% yield you expected on your initial investment can hit double digits one day.
And, as always, let’s not forget the magic of compounding. As Ben Franklin above all said, “Money makes money. And the money that money makes, makes money.”
Companies with long histories of annual bonus growth also offer some peace of mind. When a firm manages to raise its bonus year after year, through depression, war, market crashes and more, it’s making a commanding proclamation about both its fiscal flexibility and its stanchness to shareholders.
Enter the S&P 500 Bonus Nobles.
The Bonus Nobles are companies in the S&P 500 Index that have raised their payouts for at least 25 consecutive years. This list of the S&P 500’s best bonus stocks is a mix of household names and more obscure firms, but they all play key roles in the American economy. And even if they’re scattered across pretty much every sector of the market, they do all share one thing in common: a stanchness to dependable and long-term bonus growth.
S&P Dow Jones Indices rebalances the S&P 500 Bonus Nobles every January, and it made a few tweaks for 2022.
The lone deletion is AT&T (T). That’s because the telco’s dual divestitures of DirecTV and WarnerMedia – along with the cash those assets breed – brought its bonus growth streak to an end in 2021.
On the other side of the ledger, the Nobles have two additions: Brown & Brown (BRO), a member of the financials sector; and consumer-staples giant Church & Dwight (CHD). Annual changes to the Nobles take effect Feb. 1.
Here are the 66 S&P 500 Bonus Nobles. The later names have been among the best bonus stocks for income growth over the past few decades, and they’re a fantastic place to start if you’re looking to add bonus battleships to your long-term portfolios.
Companies are listed by the number of years they’ve over and over again raised their dividends, from lowest to highest. The index of Bonus Nobles is maintained by S&P Dow Jones Indices. Bonus history based on company in rank and S&P data. Bonus-growth streaks include the current year if the company announced a bonus hike as of Feb. 3, 2022.
1 of 66
NEW ARISTOCRAT: Church & Dwight
- Consecutive annual bonus increases: 25
Consumer-staples company Church & Dwight (CHD) might not ring a bell with many retail investors, but they’re surely habitual with many of its wares. Arm & Hammer, OxiClean and Waterpik are just three examples among dozens of its household brands.
Church & Dwight was founded in 1846 and is today the leading producer of baking soda in the U.S. Its stock was added to the S&P 500 index at the end of 2015.
The most recent hike came in January 2021 – a 5.2% bump to the weekly payout to 25.25 cents per share. By dint of that 25th consecutive annual bonus boost, CHD was added to the Bonus Nobles in 2022.
2 of 66
Global Affair Apparatus
- Consecutive annual bonus increases: 26
Global Affair Apparatus (IBM), a element of the Dow Jones Manufacturing Average, isn’t quite as well-known as it once was. The company’s revenue has been in steady decline for the better part of a decade, hurt by its also-ran status in vital growth areas such as social, mobile, analytics and the cloud infrastructure affair.
And yet through all its slips and stumbles, Huge Blue has been a bonus burly, gaining connection to the Bonus Nobles in January 2021.
In April 2021, IBM raised the weekly bonus by a penny to $1.64 per share, marking its 26th consecutive year of increases. IBM has paid consecutive weekly dividends since 1916. Much, the company has the assets to keep the growth streak alive, which is a characteristic you expect to see among the best bonus stocks.
- Consecutive annual bonus increases: 27
NextEra Energy (NEE) is a recent addendum to the Nobles. The utility company was added to the elite group of bonus growers in January 2021.
The company has two principal businesses: Florida Power & Light (FPL) is Florida’s largest gripping utility, while NextEra Energy Assets is a major player in wind and solar energy. Analysts like this amalgamation of a flourishing corresponding utility with a quicker-growing renewables affair. Populace growth and the Biden handing out’s focus on renewable energy age group should serve the company well.
The company last raised its bonus in February 2022, by 10.1% to 42.5 cents per share per quarter.
- Consecutive annual bonus increases: 27
Young insect (CAT), the world’s largest maker of heavy construction and mining gear, was added to the Bonus Nobles in January 2019.
CAT has paid a regular bonus without fail since 1933, and has lifted its payout every year for 27 years. Most just, the company raised the bonus in June 2021, by 8% to $1.11 weekly.
The best bonus stocks have ample free cash flow to cover the bonus, and CAT checks that box easily. For the 12 months finished Dec. 31, 2021, CAT had free cash flow after debt payments of $7.0 billion after disbursing $2.3 billion in dividends.
5 of 66
Expeditors Global of Washington
- Consecutive annual bonus increases: 27
Expeditors Global of Washington (EXPD) was added to the Nobles in January 2020. The logistics company last raised its semiannual bonus in May 2021, to 58 cents a share from 52 cents a share.
It’s been a rough few years for the moving company. Trade tensions between the U.S. and China during the before presidential handing out greatly hurt EXPD. And now COVID-19 has disrupted airfreight tonnage volumes and ocean container shipments.
Through it all, but, EXPD has remained committed to its semiannual bonus, which it has hiked every year for more than a quarter-century. A consistently low payout ratio should help ensure that Expeditors has ample assets to keep the streak alive and keep up its place on a list of the best bonus stocks.
- Consecutive annual bonus increases: 27
Realty Income (O) is a REIT that investors can rely on for steady income, but there’s another aspect to this stock that might suit certain income investors: Realty Income is a rare breed of monthly bonus stocks.
The company owns more than 6,700 money-making real estate properties that are leased out to more than 630 tenants – counting Walgreens (WBA), 7-Eleven, FedEx (FDX) and Dollar General (DG) – in commission in 58 industries.
Realty Income typically generates predictable cash flow thanks to the long-term nature of its leases. The company has delivered compound average annual bonus growth of 4.3% since 1994.
- Consecutive annual bonus increases: 28
Albemarle (ALB), which manufactures sphere chemicals such as lithium, most just hiked its bonus in February 2022 – a 1.3% raise to 39.5 cents per share weekly.
Albemarle’s harvest work completely behind the scenes, but its chemicals go to work in a number of industries, from clean-fuel technologies to pharmaceuticals to fire safety. But lithium is at the heart of the bull case.
“The clear outlook on gripping vehicle adoption is ALB’s key driver, and we believe there is more upside risk for this trend to accelerate under a Blue Wave in the U.S.,” says CFRA Investigate.
8 of 66
Essex Material goods Trust
- Consecutive annual bonus increases: 28
Essex Material goods Trust (ESS), which was added to the Bonus Nobles in 2020, is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that invests in apartments primarily on the West Coast.
The REIT went public in 1994 and has been hiking its payout ever since. The most recent boost came in February 2022, when ESS lifted the weekly bonus by 5.3% to $2.20 per share.
Thanks to its steady and generous stream of bonus hikes, Essex boasts an annualized 10-year divided growth rate of 101%. Over 20 years, the company’s annualized bonus growth rate comes to nearly 200%.
9 of 66
NEW ARISTOCRAT: Brown & Brown
- Consecutive annual bonus increases: 28
Brown & Brown (BRO), which offers indemnity brokerage air force to both businesses and patrons, has been in surgical course of action since 1939, but its stock wasn’t added to the S&P 500 until 2021.
Happily for long-term bonus growth investors, BRO’s inclusion in the main target for U.S. equity routine also opened the door to the Bonus Nobles. Brown & Brown was added to the elite list of equity income stalwarts in 2022, thanks to its nearly three-decade streak of annual bonus increases.
BRO’s most recent hike was announced in October – a 10.8% boost in the weekly delivery to 10.25 cents per share.
10 of 66
Common United Fiscal
- Consecutive annual bonus increases: 28
Common United Fiscal (PBCT) is a rare banking play in this pool of bonus stocks. The regional fiscal air force firm – which operates more than 400 twigs in Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine – has more than $63 billion in total assets. The august New England society traces its roots back to 1842.
In February 2021, M&T Bank (MTB) struck a deal to buy Common United Fiscal in an all-stock transaction valued at $7.6 billion. It remains to be seen if M&T will take PBCT’s place on the list of Bonus Nobles.
PBCT last raised its bonus in April 2021, to 18.25 cents per share a quarter from 17.75 cents per share.
11 of 66
West Pharmaceutical Air force
- Consecutive annual bonus increases: 29
West Pharmaceutical Air force (WST) was added to the Bonus Nobles in January 2021 in recollection of its nearly three-decade streak of annual increases.
WST operates in a vital sector of the healthcare supply chain, manufacturing packaging gears and manner of language systems for injectable drugs and other medical harvest. Bulls note that demand for COVID-19 vaccines is boosting demand for the firm’s harvest. Meanwhile, the biopharmaceutical diligence’s robust pipeline should support longer-term growth.
The firm last raised the bonus in October 2021 – a 5.9% boost in the weekly payout to 18 cents per share. Ample free cash flow and a low payout ratio should reassure shareholders that the annual bonus increases will keep coming.
- Consecutive annual bonus increases: 29
Chubb (CB) was added to the Bonus Nobles in January 2019. The indemnity company last raised its payout in February 2022, by 3.8% to 83 cents a share per quarter. With that go, Chubb notched its 29th consecutive year of bonus growth.
As the world’s largest freely traded material goods and sufferer indemnity company, Chubb boasts operations in 54 countries and territories. It’s not the most exciting topic for dinner chat, but it’s a profitable affair that chains a longstanding bonus.
And Chubb’s steady bonus increases really do add up over time. Indeed, the insurer sports a 20-year annualized bonus growth rate of 134%.
- Consecutive annual bonus increases: 29
A.O. Smith (AOS), a manufacturer of money-making and housing water heaters, is a moderately recent addendum to the Bonus Nobles, inflowing the club in 2018. In October 2021, it announced an 7.7% raise in its weekly payout to 28 cents per share. That marked a 29th consecutive year of bonus hikes for the manufacturing firm.
As a result, the five-year compound annual growth rate of AOS’ bonus now stands at more than 17%. The five-year annualized bonus growth rate, meanwhile, tops 158%.
With ample free cash flow and a below-average payout ratio, investors can count on AOS to keep the bonus increases coming.
- Consecutive annual bonus increases: 30
Linde (LIN) became a Bonus Member of the aristocracy in late 2018 after it concluded its merger with Praxair, which itself was added to the well-known list of the S&P 500’s best bonus stocks for income growth in January 2018. The $90 billion tie-up of Linde and Praxair made the world’s largest manufacturing gasses company.
Praxair raised its bonus for 25 consecutive years before its merger, and the collective company continues to be a steady bonus payer. Prior to the merger, Linde, now headquartered in Dublin, raised its bonus every year since 2014.
Linde’s most recent hike came in February 2022 – a 10% bump in the weekly payout to $1.17 per share. The company also formal a new $10 billion share repurchase program.
With ample free cash flow after debt-service payments, Linde should have plenty of weapons to keep its bonus-growth streak alive.
- Consecutive annual bonus increases: 30
Ecolab (ECL) provides water behavior and other manufacturing-scale maintenance air force for several industries, counting food, healthcare, and oil and gas. Effectively language, its harvest help optimize all from offshore oil manufacture to electronics polishing to money-making laundries.
Ecolab’s fortunes can wane as manufacturing needs swing, though; for reason, when energy companies pare costs, ECL will feel the burn.
Over the long haul, but, this Bonus Member of the aristocracy’s shares have been a proven winner. The stock has delivered market-beating total returns for the past five-, 10- and 15-year periods. That’s thanks in no small part to 30 consecutive years of bonus increases. ECL’s most recent hike came in December 2021, with a 6% boost in the weekly payment to 51 cents per share.
16 of 66
Roper Technologies
- Consecutive annual bonus increases: 30
Roper Technologies (ROP) – an manufacturing company whose businesses include medical and methodical imaging, RF equipment and software, and energy systems and reins, among others – has been churning out income for nearly three decades.
The most recent hike was confirmed in November 2021, when the weekly payout was lifted 10.2%, to 62 cents per share.
A amalgamation of acquisitions, organic growth and stronger margins have helped Roper juice its bonus without stretching its profits. And while the yield might not look like much, patient investors have come to be thankful for what ROP’s steady bonus increases have done for their returns.
17 of 66
General Dynamics
- Consecutive annual bonus increases: 31
Defense service source General Dynamics (GD) is one of the newer members of the Bonus Nobles, having been added to the elite list of best bonus stocks for growth in 2017.
Generous air force costs has helped fuel this bonus stock’s steady stream of cash returned to shareholders. Indeed, General Dynamics has upped its delivery for more than three decades now.
The last boost was announced in March 2022, when GD lifted the weekly payout by 5.9% to $1.26 a share. With its below-average payout ratio of 34%, General Dynamics should have ample room for more bonus growth.
- Consecutive annual bonus increases: 35
Chevron (CVX) is an integrated oil giant that also has operations in natural gas and geothermal energy. It also happens to be the lone energy-sector name among the 30 stocks in the Dow Jones Manufacturing Average.
Analysts praise Chevron for having the strongest fiscal base in its peer group, a highly arresting choice of assets, and the “most basically clear risk/reward profile” of any stock in its sub-sector.
Perhaps most vital for income investors, CVX has more than three decades of incessant bonus growth under its belt, and management has said it will protect the payout at all costs. Chevron’s last boost was announced in January 2022 with a 6% bump in the weekly bonus to $1.42 per share.
- Consecutive annual bonus increases: 35
Atmos Energy (ATO), which distributes and stores natural gas, was added to the Bonus Nobles in January 2020. The Dallas-headquartered firm serves more than 3 million delivery customers in more than 1,400 communities across eight states, with a large incidence in Texas and Louisiana.
Analysts, who are mostly bullish on the name, point to ATO’s strong nitty-gritty and rising U.S. demand for natural gas. A robust balance sheet and the makings for above-average return growth also urge the stock.
Atmos clinched its 35th honest year of bonus growth in November 2021, when it announced an 8.8% boost to 68 cents a share per quarter.
- Consecutive annual bonus increases: 35
A steady stream of acquisitions helped indiscriminate drug and medical device point Central Health (CAH) become the giant that it is today. Its most recent acquisition – a $2.2 billion all-stock deal for Bindley Western Industries – closed in February 2021.
Like the rest of the medical device diligence, CAH faced challenges during the endemic as patients place off discretionary surgeries. But the company still managed to breed ample free cash flow and the bonus increases such cash flow chains.
Indeed, Central Health has upped the ante on its annual payout for 35 years and collectively with. The Member of the aristocracy last raised its costs in August 2021, declaring a 1% boost in the weekly bonus to 49.08 cents per share.
- Consecutive annual bonus increases: 36
Asset managers such as T. Rowe Price (TROW) have been losing market share to indexed funds of the type Front offers, but the company still boasts a massive (and growing) $1.7 trillion in assets under management (AUM).
Strong routine from actively managed funds and the firm’s focus on the growing retirement market are just two factors boosting AUM, analysts note.
T. Rowe Price has stuck-up its bonus every year for 36 years, counting an ample 11.1% boost to the payout announced in February 2022. Given its track record as one of the best bonus stocks, investors can expect a 37th consecutive bonus hike in 2023.
- Consecutive annual bonus increases: 36
McCormick (MKC) – the maker of herbs, spices and other flavorings – has been bulking up with acquisitions over the years to drive sales growth, and the deals have been paying off.
The approach should to provide support for McCormick’s bonus, which has been paid for 97 consecutive years and raised annually for 36. Most just, in November 2021, the company hiked its weekly bonus by 8.8% to 37 cents per share. McCormick’s current annualized bonus of $1.36 per share represents an boost of 10% over the annual bonus of $1.24 per share paid in fiscal 2020.
With ample free cash flow and a evenhanded payout ratio, MKC has been able to breed an annualized 10-year bonus growth rate of more than 107%. The company’s 20-year annualized bonus growth rate tops 471%
- Consecutive annual bonus increases: 38
Brown-Forman (BF.B) is one of the largest producers and distributors of alcohol in the world. Jack Daniel’s Tennessee whiskey and Finlandia vodka are just two of its best-known brands, with the former helping drive long-term growth.
Unlike many of the best bonus stocks on this list, you won’t have a say in corporate matters with the freely traded BF.B shares. They hold no voting power. And most of the voting-class A shares are held by the Brown family.
Still, you can delight in in the company’s gains and dividends. That payout has been on the rise for 38 consecutive years and has been delivered without interruption for 78. Most just, Brown-Forman last upped the weekly ante in November 2021, by 5% to 18.85 cents per share.
- Consecutive annual bonus increases: 38
Cintas (CTAS) is perhaps best-known for as long as corporate uniforms, but the company also offers maintenance equipment, tile and carpet cleaning air force and even falling in line schooling.
As such, it’s seen by some investors as a bet on jobs growth, and tends to go ahead of any pick-up in hiring during and fiscal recovery. Indeed, CTAS has worked pretty well as a proxy for employment in the past.
In any case of how the labor market is doing, Cintas is a burly when it comes to being one of the best bonus stocks. The company has raised its payout every year since going public in 1983. But, those have been annual distributions up until this year, when the company switched to weekly payouts.
Most just, in July 2021, CTAS raised its weekly bonus by 26.7% to 95 cents per share.
- Consecutive annual bonus increases: 39
Amcor (AMCR) is a pretty dull company. It designs, manufactures and sells various packaging harvest for every diligence you can reckon of, counting food, drink, pharmaceutical, medical, home and private care.
But now and again dull can be fantastic, and that’s the case with Amcor when it comes to dependable income. It was named to the list of payout-hiking bonus stocks at the start of 2020 after its June acquisition of Bemis. Bemis, which fell out of the S&P 500 Index and thus the Nobles in 2014, rejoined by merit of its merger with Amcor.
The company last raised its bonus in November 2021, by 2.1% to 12 cents a share. The analyst union expects the company to deliver average annual return per share growth of 5.3% over the next three to five years.
26 of 66
Air Harvest & Chemicals
- Consecutive annual bonus increases: 40
Air Harvest & Chemicals (APD) has spent much of the past few years reorganization. Under difficulty from investors, it started to shed some weight, counting growth off its Electronic Equipment rift and selling its Routine Equipment affair.
Air Harvest, which dates back to 1940, now is a slimmer company that has returned to focusing on its legacy manufacturing gases affair. But it hasn’t taken its eye off the bonus, which it has stuck-up on an annual basis for 40 years in a row. That includes an 8% upgrade in February 2022 to $1.62 a share.
“With our strong cash flow spot and focus on making shareholder value, we take up again to boost the bonus while also executing on our many growth opportunities through projects that support decarbonization,” CEO Seifi Ghasemi said in a press release at the time. ADP expects to return more than $1.4 billion to shareholders in 2022, the CEO added.
- Consecutive annual bonus increases: 40
Aflac (AFL) is a supplemental indemnity company – popularized by the loud Aflac duck – with roots going back to 1955 that covers copious headquarters offerings, such as manufacturing accident, small-term disability and life indemnity.
Even if the COVID-19 endemic slammed the indemnity diligence, AFL stock returned to pre-crash levels by early 2021, helped by the market’s confidence in its bonus. And with a conservative payout ratio and nearly four honest decades of bonus growth, that confidence is indeed well placed.
Aflac last raised its payout in November 2021, upping the weekly delivery by 21.2% to 40 cents per share.
- Consecutive annual bonus increases: 39
Exxon Mobil (XOM) remains one of the world’s largest energy companies and is the largest oil company by market value in the U.S. It was removed from the blue-chip Dow Jones Manufacturing Average in August 2020, and will likely be dropped from the Bonus Nobles in January.
This bonus burly and its various predecessors have strung collectively incessant payouts since 1882. To its credit, XOM was one of the few energy companies that didn’t cut or suspend its payout amid the endemic-caused crash in oil prices.
But, it did place a pause on its bonus growth.
The Dow basics weekly delivery remained unchanged in 2020 amid the COVID-19 crisis. But, connection in the Bonus Nobles is based on consecutive increases to the annual payout; a 1.1% bump to the bonus in October 2021 ensured that XOM will have a vaguely higher annual payout than in 2020, and thus remain in the club.
- Consecutive annual bonus increases: 41
The name Franklin Assets (BEN) might not be well-known among investors; but, along with its subsidiaries, it’s called the more habitual Franklin Templeton funds. The global investment firm is one of the world’s largest with $1.53 trillion in assets under management, and is known for its bond funds, among other offerings.
Mutual fund providers have come under difficulty because customers are eschewing habitual stock pickers in favor of indexed funds. But, Franklin has fought back in recent years by launching its first suite of passive chat-traded funds.
Meanwhile, the asset manager remains arresting as an income source for investors looking for the best bonus stocks. It has raised its bonus annually since 1981, counting a 3.6% hike to 29 cents per share weekly announced in December 2021.
30 of 66
Sherwin-Williams
- Consecutive annual bonus increases: 43
Thanks to its 2017 acquisition of Valspar, Sherwin-Williams (SHW) is one of the largest paints, coatings and home-enhancement companies in the world.
Income investors surely don’t need to worry about Sherwin-Williams’ steady and rising bonus stream. SHW has hiked its delivery every year since 1979. The most recent hike came in February 2022 with a 9.1% raise to the weekly payment to 60 cents per share.
SHW’s bonus now boasts a 20-year annualized growth rate of 469%.
- Consecutive annual bonus increases: 44
Medtronic (MDT), one of the world’s largest makers of medical devices, is an income machine. Most just, in May 2021, MDT lifted its weekly payout by 8.6% to 63 cents a share. Its bonus per share has grown by 47% over the past half-decade and has grown at a 16% compounded annual growth rate over the past 44 years, Medtronic says.
MDT is able to steer generous sums of cash back to shareholders thanks to the ubiquity of its harvest. It holds more than 47,000 patents on harvest ranging from insulin pumps for diabetics to stents used by cardiac surgeons.
Look around a sickbay or doctor’s office – in the U.S. or in more than 160 other countries – and there’s a excellent chance you’ll see its harvest.
- Consecutive annual bonus increases: 44
Clorox (CLX), whose brands include its namesake bleaches, Glad trash bags and Hidden Valley salad dressing, was a huge early receiver of the endemic as demand surged for its ever-present cleaning equipment.
That surge in demand has since passed, but the trusty and guilty nature of Clorox’s affair has allowed the company to boost its payout every year since 1977. The most recent raise came in June 2021 with a 5% bump to $1.16 per share per quarter.
CLX boasts a reasonale payout ratio and ample free cash flow, which should ensure a 45th consecutive boost to the bonus in 2022.
- Consecutive annual bonus increases: 45
The world’s largest hamburger chain also happens to be a bonus burly. Varying consumer tastes will always be a risk, but McDonald’s (MCD) bonus dates back to 1976 and has gone up every year since. That’s the power of being a consumer giant that has been able to adjust itself to varying consumer tastes without losing its core.
MCD last raised its bonus in September 2021, when it lifted the weekly payout by 7% to $1.38 a share. That marked its 45h consecutive annual boost. The company’s 10-year annualized bonus growth rate stands at 123%. And over the past 20 years? The annualized growth rate tops 2,244%.
- Consecutive annual bonus increases: 46
U.K.-based water-behavior company Pentair (PNR) whose divisions include Flow Technologies, Filtration & Process and Aquatic & Environmental Systems, is always looking to expand its capabilities.
In early January 2021 it closed on its acquisition of Rocean, a maker of countertop filtration systems for the home. Terms were anonymous. That followed its 2019 acquisition of Aquion for $160 million in cash.
Pentair has raised its bonus annually for 46 honest years, most just in December 2021 by 5% to 21 cents a quarter. A modest payout ratio and consistently ample free cash flow helps ensure that Pentair will take up again to be one of the best bonus stocks.
35 of 66
Walgreens Boots Alliance
- Consecutive annual bonus increases: 46
Tracing its roots back to a single drugstore founded in 1901, Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) has boosted its bonus every year for more than four decades. Mostly just, in July 2021, it raised the weekly bonus by 2.1% to 47.75 cents per share. WBA’s five-year annualized bonus growth rate now stands at 32.6% as a result.
As for its origins, Walgreen Co. merged with Alliance Boots – a Switzerland-based health and beauty multinational – in 2014 to form the current company. Walgreens Boots Alliance and its predecessor company have paid a bonus in 355 honest quarters, or more than 88 years.
36 of 66
Compulsory Data Dispensation
- Consecutive annual bonus increases: 47
Compulsory Data Dispensation (ADP) is the world’s largest payroll dispensation firm, reliable for paying nearly 40 million employees and serving more than 920,000 clients across 140 countries.
Through excellent fiscal times and terrible, one of ADP’s fantastic compensation is its “gumminess.” After all, it’s complicated and pricey for corporate customers to change payroll service providers. That competitive benefit helps throw off regular income and cash flow. In turn, ADP has become a trusty bonus payer – one that has provided an annual raise for shareholders since 1975.
ADP’s most recent bonus boost came in November 2021 when it lifted the weekly payout 11.8% to $1.04 per share. The company’s five-year annualized bonus growth rate stands at 83%.
37 of 66
Archer Daniels Midland
- Consecutive annual bonus increases: 47
Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) processes ingredients for food and feed, counting corn sweeteners, starches and emulsifiers such as lecithin. It also has a commodity trading affair. It’s a truly global agricultural motivating force, too, bluster customers in 200 countries served by more than 800 conveniences.
Archer Daniels Midland has paid out dividends on an incessant basis for 89 years. The most recent hike came in January 2021, when ADM augmented the weekly payout by 2.8% to 37 cents a share. The go total the bonus stock’s streak of annual raises to 47 years.
38 of 66
Consolidated Edison
- Consecutive annual bonus increases: 48
Consolidated Edison (ED) is the largest utility company in New York State by number of customers. Founded in 1823, it provides gripping, gas or steam air force to roughly 3.5 million customers in New York City and Westchester County. ConEd also happens to be North America’s second-largest solar power source, and is investing in gripping vehicle charging programs and other green energy endeavors.
Like most utilities, Consolidated Edison is highly corresponding but enjoys a honestly stable stream of revenues thanks to limited direct struggle – but not a lot of growth. The longtime Bonus Member of the aristocracy has hiked its annual delivery without interruption for close to five decades. In January 2022, the utility raised its weekly payout 1.9% to 79 cents per share from 77.5 cents per share.
- Consecutive annual bonus increases: 48
Leggett & Platt (LEG) has its hands in several pies, counting producing steel wire; crafty and manufacturing seating support systems for automobiles; and making gears for manufacturers of upholstered furniture, beds and other home gear.
Even if it’s not a above all well-known company, it has been a bonus champion for long-term investors. Or had been, anyway. After 48 honest years of annual bonus increases, LEG did not lift the payout in 2020.
But, Leggett & Platt will keep up its connection in the Nobles thanks to a 5% upgrade to its bonus, to 42 cents per share, in May 2021, long-lasting its streak of augmented payouts on an annual basis.
- Consecutive annual bonus increases: 49
Formerly known as McGraw Hill Fiscal, S&P Global (SPGI) is the company behind S&P Global Ratings, S&P Global Market Acumen and S&P Global Platts. Even if most investors doubtless know it for its margin stake in S&P Dow Jones Indices – which maintains the target S&P 500 index and the blue-chip Dow Jones Manufacturing Average – it’s also a central player in corporate and fiscal analytics, in rank and investigate.
S&P Global has paid a bonus each year since 1937 and has augmented its costs annually for nearly half a century. Most just, in February 2022, SPGI raised its weekly payout by a healthy 10.4% to 85 cents a share. The company also announced its aim to buy back $12 billion of S&P Global common stock through accelerated share repurchases (ASRs) in 2022.
- Consecutive annual bonus increases: 49
The world’s largest company by revenue might not pay the largest bonus, but it sure is regular. Walmart (WMT) has been delivering meager penny-per-share increases to its weekly bonus since 2014, counting February 2022’s bump to 56 cents per share.
But that’s been enough to keep up its 49-year streak of consecutive bonus increases. WMT’s annualized payout now stands at $2.24 per share, up 1.8% from the $2.20 per share it returned the prior year.
And shareholders can count on the increases to keep coming. The money off seller, which operates approximately 11,400 stores and e-buying websites under 54 banners in 26 countries, is a cash machine. WMT has generated average annual free cash flow of more than $15 billion over the past seven years.
- Consecutive annual bonus increases: 49
Nucor (NUE) is the largest U.S. steelmaker, but it’s perhaps even more well known for its nearly superlative stanchness to bonus growth. As one of the best bonus stocks, Nucor has augmented its bonus for 49 honest years, or every year since it started paying dividends in 1973.
The most recent boost came in December 2021 when NUE lifted the weekly costs more than 23% to 50 cents per share. Nucor returned nearly $3.53 billion to shareholders in the form of share repurchases and bonus payments during the first 11 months of 2021.
- Consecutive annual bonus increases: 49
VF Corp. (VFC) is an apparel company with a large number of brands under its umbrella, counting The North Face outdoor harvest, Timberland boots and Eastpak backpacks.
Much, as greedy as VFC has traditionally been, it’s never been shy about tailoring its choice to keep up maximum profitability. In 2019, the company spun off its jeans affair to shareholders via the freely traded Kontoor Brands (KTB). The later year VFC bought streetwear brand Supreme, but also divested its job-related workwear brands and affair.
That sort of flexibility helps the company keep up the free cash flow vital to keep the bonus increases coming. And, indeed, they do keep coming.
VFC in October 2021 raised its bonus for a 49th consecutive year – a 2% boost to 49 cents per share per quarter. The company also reinstated its share repurchase program, with an consent to buy back up to $2.8 billion of its common stock. VFC floating share repurchases in April 2020 due to the COVID-19 endemic.
- Consecutive annual bonus increases: 49
Not too long ago, investors fretted over a long-term slide in sales of luminous beverages, but that turned out not to be a secular trend after all. Indeed, Grand View Investigate forecasts the global market for fizzy drinks to produce a compound annual growth rate of 4.7% through 2028.
Besides, PepsiCo (PEP) has an ace up its sleeve with its snacks affair. The company’s Frito-Lay rift is known for Doritos, Tostitos, Rold Gold pretzels, and copious other brands. Meanwhile, demand for salty snacks remains solid.
The bottom line? PEP’s affair remains automatically strong, and that should keep its bonus-growth streak intact. PepsiCo confirmed its 49th honest annual boost in May 2021 with a 5% bump in the weekly bonus to $1.075 per share.
- Consecutive annual bonus increases: 50
Kimberly-Clark’s (KMB) well-known brands include Huggies diapers, Scott paper towels and Kleenex tissues. Like other makers of consumer staples, Kimberly-Clark holds out the promise of delivering slow but steady growth along with a healthy bonus to drive total returns.
Kimberly-Clark has paid out a bonus for 84 consecutive years and has raised the annual payout for 49 consecutive years. In January 2022, the board of directors ordinary a 1.8% boost in the weekly bonus to $1.16 a share. KMB generated $1.3 billion in levered free cash flow for the 12 months finished Dec. 31, 2021. That’s after paying out a total of $1.5 billion in dividends.
46 of 66
Abbott Laboratories
- Consecutive annual bonus increases: 50
Abbott Laboratories (ABT) manufactures a wide variety of healthcare goods. Its choice includes branded generic drugs, medical devices, nourishment and diagnostic harvest. Some of its best-known harvest include Similac infant formulas, Glucerna diabetes management harvest and i-Stat diagnostics devices.
Abbott Labs dates all the way back to 1888. It first paid a bonus in 1924 and its bonus growth streak is long-lived too, at 50 years and collectively with. The last payout hike came in December 2021 — a 4.4% boost to 47 cents per share weekly.
47 of 66
Becton Dickinson
- Consecutive annual bonus increases: 50
Medical devices maker Becton Dickinson (BDX) has bulked up quite a bit over the past few years. In 2015, it bought CareFusion, a complementary player in the same diligence. Then in 2017, it struck a $24 billion deal for fellow Bonus Member of the aristocracy C.R. Bard, another medical harvest company with a strong spot in treatments for communicable diseases.
As a result of all that M&A, BDX boasts a highly diversified choice of harvest – and the ample free cash flow needed to support nonstop bonus growth. BDX last raised its payout in November 2021 with a 4.8% raise to the weekly bonus to 87 cents a share.
- Consecutive annual bonus increases: 50
PPG Industries (PPG) makes coatings and paints for copious industries, counting aerospace, architecture, automotive and packaging. Its extensive operations use roughly 47,000 people in more than 50 countries.
PPG has paid a bonus since 1899 and has raised it annually for 50 years. A below-average payout ratio and solid outlook for long-term return growth should keep the bonus increases coming. PPG’s last raise came in July 2021 with a 9.3% bump in the weekly delivery to 59 cents per share.
- Consecutive annual bonus increases: 50
Target (TGT) might be the No. 2 money off retail chain after Walmart in terms of revenue, but it doesn’t take a back seat to the behemoth from Bentonville when it comes to dividends.
Target paid its first bonus in 1967, seven years ahead of Walmart, and has raised its payout annually since 1972. The last hike came in June 2021, when the seller raised its weekly costs by a monstrous 32.4% to 90 cents a share.
With its well-below-average payout ratio, income investors can count on Target to keep hitting the mark for bonus growth. Indeed, over the past 10 years, its annualized bonus growth rate comes to more than 138%.
- Consecutive annual bonus increases: 50
W.W. Grainger (GWW) – which not only sells manufacturing gear and tools, but provides other air force such as helping companies manage supply – is probable to breed steady if not spectacular sales growth for the next few years. EPS growth, but, is forecast to boost at a double-digit percent rate.
Happily for the income-minded, Grainger has achieved annual bonus growth for a half century and maintains a below-average payout ratio. It renewed its Bonus Nobles connection card in April 2021 when it announced a 5.9% boost in the weekly payout to $1.62 per share.
- Consecutive annual bonus increases: 50
AbbVie (ABBV) is one of the highest yielders on this list of the best payout-humanizing bonus stocks. The pharmaceutical company was spun off from fellow Bonus Member of the aristocracy Abbott Laboratories in 2013.
Counting its time as part of Abbott, AbbVie has upped its annual delivery for 50 consecutive years. The most recent hike – an 8.5% boost to the weekly payment to $1.41 per share – was confirmed in October 2021.
The company’s best-selling treatments include Humira: a rheumatoid arthritis drug that has been ordinary for copious other ailments, and that appears is on pace to surpass Lipitor as the best-selling drug of all time. AbbVie also makes cancer drug Imbruvica, as well as testosterone substitution therapy AndroGel.
52 of 66
Illinois Tool Works
- Consecutive annual bonus increases: 50
Founded in 1912, Illinois Tool Works (ITW) makes construction harvest, car parts, restaurant gear and more. While ITW sells many harvest under its namesake brand, it also operates businesses counting Foster Refrigerators, ACME Packaging Systems and the Wolf Range Company.
In August 2021, Illinois Tool Works raised its weekly bonus by 7% to $1.22 cents a share, bringing its streak of annual increases to 50 years. But, the company notes that without a period of regime reins in 1971, that streak would stretch to 58 years. Either way, ITW’s bonus sports a 10-year annualized growth rate of 240%.
- Consecutive annual bonus increases: 52
Years of acquisitions have made Sysco (SYY) the food air force and supply giant it is today. And the company’s scale really came in handy during the endemic, when it had to weather the closure of restaurants, bars and other food-service venues.
Happily for shareholders, the sudden and sharp dip couldn’t stop SYY from hiking its bonus for a 52nd consecutive year. The company last raised its payout in May 2021 with a 4.4% bump to 47 cents per share per quarter.
54 of 66
Stanley Black & Decker
- Consecutive annual bonus increases: 54
Power- and hand-toolmaker Stanley Black & Decker (SWK) has stuck-up its cash delivery annually for more than half a century, counting a 13% boost to 79 cents per share weekly in July 2021.
SWK has bulked up through a series of deals over the past five years or so, counting the acquisitions of Newell Tools, the Craftsman tool brand, IES Attachments, Nelson Zipper Systems and Consolidated Aerospace Manufacturing.
A low payout ratio and ample free cash flow should keep it SWK’s bonus growth streak going.
55 of 66
Federal Realty Investment Trust
- Consecutive annual bonus increases: 54
Real estate investment trusts such as Federal Realty Investment Trust (FRT) are vital to pay out at least 90% of their taxable return as dividends in chat for certain tax refund. Thus, REITs are well known as some of the best bonus stocks you can buy.
And few have been steadier than FRT, which owns retail and mixed-use real estate in several major city areas. Federal Realty Investment Trust has now hiked its payout every year for 54 years – the longest consecutive record in the REIT diligence. It’s latest boost – upping the weekly bonus by a penny to $1.07 per share – was announced in August 2021.
- Consecutive annual bonus increases: 56
Hormel Foods (HRL) is best known for Spam, but it’s also reliable for its namesake meats and chili, Skippy peanut butter, Dinty Moore stews and House of Tsang sauces, among other brands.
But it shouldn’t go without being seen that the packaged food company is about as dependable as they come when it comes to income investing, having raised its payout every year for more than five decades.
Indeed, in November 2021, Hormel announced its 56th consecutive bonus boost – a 6% raise to 26 cents per share weekly. The packaged foods company is rightly proud to note that it has paid a regular bonus without interruption since apt a public company in 1928.
- Consecutive annual bonus increases: 59
When it comes to home enhancement chains, Home Depot (HD), a member of the Dow Jones Manufacturing Average, gets all the glory. But rival Lowe’s (LOW) is the stuck-up bonus grower.
Lowe’s has paid a cash delivery every quarter since going public in 1961, and that bonus has augmented annually for more than half a century. Most just, in May 2021, Lowe’s lifted its weekly payout by 33% to 80 cents per share. Home Depot is a longtime bonus payer, too, but its string of annual bonus increases dates back only to 2010.
Lowe’s 10-year annualized bonus growth rate now stands at 463%.
58 of 66
Johnson & Johnson
- Consecutive annual bonus increases: 59
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), founded in 1886 and public since 1944, operates in several uncommon segments of the healthcare diligence. In addendum to pharmaceuticals, it makes over-the-counter consumer harvest such as Band-Aids, Neosporin and Listerine. It also manufactures medical devices used in surgery.
JNJ’s diversification across three major affair segments adds grit to this guilty bonus stock, and that helps income investors sleep better at night. The healthcare giant has augmented its payout for nearly three decades and collectively with. The most recent hike came in April 2021 when JNJ augmented the weekly bonus by 5% to $1.06 per share.
59 of 66
Colgate-Palmolive
- Consecutive annual bonus increases: 60
Colgate-Palmolive (CL) sells a wide range of consumer staples brands counting its namesake toothpaste and dish soap, as well as Speed Stick deodorant, Murphy cleaning harvest and Tom’s of Maine private-care harvest.
Demand for Colagte’s harvest tends to remain stable in both excellent fiscal times and terrible, and that drives the free cash flow need to keep up its bonus growth streak.
And what a streak it is. Colgate’s bonus dates back more than a century, to 1895, and the company has augmented it annually for 60 years. CL last raised its payment in March 2022, upping the quartley delivery by 2 cents to 47 cents per share.
But CL didn’t stop there in its efforts to return more cash to shareholders. In addendum to rising the bonus, the company announced a new $5 billon share repurchase program.
- Consecutive annual bonus increases: 60
Coca-Cola (KO) has long been known for quenching patrons’ thirst, but it’s equally commanding at quenching investors’ thirst for income. The company’s bonus history stretches back to 1920, and the payout has swelled for 60 consecutive years. The most recent hike, announced in February 2022, lifted the weekly bonus by 4.8% to 44 cents per share.
KO disbursed $7.3 billion in dividends in 2021. Since Jan. 1, 2010, the company has paid a total of $69.2 billion in dividends to shareholders.
Coca-Cola has worked hard to expand its offerings beyond habitual luminous beverages, adding bottled water, fruit juices, sports drinks and teas to its product lineup. In addendum to the namesake Coca-Cola brand, KO also sports names such as Minute Maid, Powerade, Simply Orange and Vitaminwater.
61 of 66
Cincinnati Fiscal
- Consecutive annual bonus increases: 62
Material goods and sufferer insurer Cincinnati Fiscal’s (CINF) offerings include life indemnity, annuities, umbrella indemnity and a wide range of affair indemnity harvest.
Shares took a beating during the worst of the endemic – and have since come bounding back – but even when CINF was bottoming out investors knew they could count on their dividends. Indeed, at 62 consecutive years and collectively with, Cincinnati Fiscal boasts one of the longest bonus growth streaks of any Bonus Member of the aristocracy.
The P&C insurer most just lifted its weekly payout in January 2022, by 10% to 69 cents per share.
- Consecutive annual bonus increases: 64
Shares in 3M (MMM), which makes all from adhesives to gripping circuits to N95 respirators, have been a long-time market laggard. But as much as this Dow stock has been a disappointment in terms of price appreciation, there’s no questioning its value as a compounding source of income.
Indeed, the business’s bonus dates back more than a century. Even better, 3M has been delivering annual bonus increases to investors for 64 years. The most recent hike came in early February 2022 when the company bumped the weekly payout by a penny to $1.49 per share.
MMM notes that it has returned more than $14 billion to shareholders through dividends and share repurchase over the past three years.
63 of 66
Procter & Gamble
- Consecutive annual bonus increases: 65
With major brands such as Tide detergent, Pampers diapers and Gillette razors, Procter & Gamble (PG) is among the world’s largest consumer harvest companies.
Even if the economy ebbs and flows, demand for harvest such as toilet paper, toothpaste and soap tends to remain stable. That hardly makes P&G absolutely depression-proof, but it does make the grade as one of the best bonus stocks because it’s an equity income machine.
The Dow Jones Manufacturing Average element has paid shareholders a bonus since 1890, and has raised its payout annually for 65 years in a row. P&G’s most recent raise came in April 2021 with a 10% bump to 86.98 cents per share weekly.
- Consecutive annual bonus increases: 66
Automotive and manufacturing substitution parts maker Genuine Parts (GPC) is best-known for the Napa brand. But, it also has deep roots in Mexico, where it operates under the AutoTodo brand, as well as Canada, where it operates as UAP.
Founded in 1928, Genuine Parts has long made persistent cash to shareholders a priority.
The company has paid a cash bonus every year since going public in 1948 – or 66 consecutive years. The last hike – a 9.8% enhancement to 89.5 cents per share weekly – came in February 2022.
65 of 66
Emerson Gripping
- Consecutive annual bonus increases: 66
Emerson Gripping (EMR) makes a wide variety of manufacturing harvest, ranging from control valves to electrical equipment.
The company has paid dividends since 1956 and has boosted its annual payout for 66 consecutive years, counting its last boost – 2% to 51.5 cents per share weekly – confirmed in November 2021. As a result, EMR’s three-year annualized bonus growth rate stands at 4.2%.
With a evenhanded payout ratio and plenty of free cash flow, investors can count on Emerson Gripping to keep the bonus hikes coming.
- Consecutive annual bonus increases: 66
Bonus growth has been a priority for Dover (DOV), which at 66 consecutive years of annual delivery hikes underscores its stanchness to persistent cash to shareholders.
The manufacturing business has its hands in all sorts of businesses, from Dover-branded pumps, lifts and even productivity tools for the energy affair, to Anthony-branded money-making refrigerator and freezer doors. It’s not an exciting affair, but it can be a remunerative one.
Dover last raised its payout in August 2021, when it upped the weekly outlay by 1% to 50 cents per share.