We’ve found a group of stocks that is as close as you can get to a guarantee of regular payouts: Our dividend centenarians. These companies have paid cash dividends annually for at least a century. Most of these firms have humble origins, but they are not quaint.
Here are the three oldest:
ExxonMobil (symbol XOM; recent yield, 3.4%) shows no signs of turning off the dividend spigot despite the downturn in oil prices. It traces its roots to John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil.
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Stanley Black & Decker (SWK; recent yield, 2.0%) got its start in pre-Civil War Connecticut. In 2010, it bought Black & Decker and is now big in electronic security as well.
York Water Company (YORW; recent yield, 2.0%), a small utility in Pennsylvania, has been paying a dividend for over 200 years. That’s a heck of a track record.
Take a look at nine more stocks that have been paying dividends for at least a century.
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