8 Dow Dividend Stocks You Can Buy and Hold Forever

The 30 companies that make up the Dow Jones Industrial Average are household names.

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The 30 companies that make up the Dow Jones Industrial Average are household names. Their sheer size and dominance of their respective fields make them not only well known but also good bets in bad markets. All 30 pay dividends, too, and that steady income can beef up total returns during markets both good and bad. Any stock carries risk, of course, but it's fair to say that as a group Dow stocks are among the more reliable names that investors can buy.

There are eight stocks in the Dow that have taken the concept of reliability to a whole new level when it comes to dividends. Known as Dividend Aristocrats, these stocks have seen their payouts to investors increase every year for at least 25 consecutive years. Some of these Dow component have hiked dividends for twice as long—50 years or more—and paid out dividends for over a century. Track records like these give investors an added layer of comfort no matter which direction the market turns.

Take a look at the eight Dow stocks that have raised dividends for 25 years in a row or more.

Data is as of February 16, 2017, unless otherwise indicated. Click on symbol links in each slide for current share prices and more.

Disclaimer

(Companies are listed in order of market cap—share price times total shares outstanding—starting with the highest. Analysts’ ratings provided by Zacks Investment Research. The list of 50 Dividend Aristocrats is maintained by S&P Dow Jones Indices.)

Dan Burrows
Senior Investing Writer, Kiplinger.com

Dan Burrows is Kiplinger's senior investing writer, having joined the august publication full time in 2016.

A long-time financial journalist, Dan is a veteran of SmartMoney, MarketWatch, CBS MoneyWatch, InvestorPlace and DailyFinance. He has written for The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Consumer Reports, Senior Executive and Boston magazine, and his stories have appeared in the New York Daily News, the San Jose Mercury News and Investor's Business Daily, among other publications. As a senior writer at AOL's DailyFinance, Dan reported market news from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange and hosted a weekly video segment on equities.

Once upon a time – before his days as a financial reporter and assistant financial editor at legendary fashion trade paper Women's Wear Daily – Dan worked for Spy magazine, scribbled away at Time Inc. and contributed to Maxim magazine back when lad mags were a thing. He's also written for Esquire magazine's Dubious Achievements Awards.

In his current role at Kiplinger, Dan writes about equities, fixed income, currencies, commodities, funds, macroeconomics, demographics, real estate, cost of living indexes and more.

Dan holds a bachelor's degree from Oberlin College and a master's degree from Columbia University.

Disclosure: Dan does not trade stocks or other securities. Rather, he dollar-cost averages into cheap funds and index funds and holds them forever in tax-advantaged accounts.