5 US Blue Chip Giants That Have Paid Dividends for Over 100 Years

Investors love dividend stocks because they provide dependable passive income streams and an excellent opportunity for solid total return. Total return includes interest, capital gains, dividends, and distributions realized over time. In other words, the total return on an investment or portfolio consists of income and stock appreciation. At 24/7 Wall St., we have focused on dividend stocks for over 15 years because, despite the stock market’s ups and downs, many people need reliable passive income streams to supplement their income from employment or other sources such as Social Security and pensions.

Paying dividends for over 100 years is significant because it signals exceptional financial durability across wars, recessions, inflation cycles, and market crashes. Very few companies can sustain profitability, cash flow, and disciplined capital allocation for that long. Hence, a century-long dividend record demonstrates resilient business models, strong management cultures, and consistent shareholder commitment. For investors, it often indicates a firm that prioritizes stability, risk control, and long-term value creation rather than short-term growth at any cost.

We asked ChatGPT to find us the companies that have paid dividends for over 100 years, and surprisingly, five of the companies that came up were Canadian Banks. We decided to focus on American companies because, in many cases, dividends from foreign stocks are subject to withholding taxes. Here are five blue-chip giants that have paid dividends to investors for well over 100 years, and, not surprisingly, they are all rated Buy at top Wall Street firms.

Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO), an American multinational corporation founded in 1892, has paid dividends since 1893, for almost 130 years. It is the world’s largest beverage company, offering consumers more than 500 sparkling and still brands, and the current dividend for shareholders is 2.58%

Led by Coca-Cola, one of the world’s most valuable and recognizable brands, the company’s portfolio features 20 billion-dollar brands, including:

• Diet Coke
• Coca-Cola Light
• Coca-Cola Zero Sugar
• Caffeine-free Diet Coke
• Cherry Coke
• Fanta Orange
• Fanta Zero Orange
• Fanta Zero Sugar
• Fanta Apple
• Sprite
• Sprite Zero Sugar
• Simply Orange
• Simply Apple
• Simply Grapefruit
• Fresca
• Schweppes
• Dasani
• Fuze Tea
• Glacéau Smartwater
• Glacéau Vitaminwater
• Gold Peak
• Ice Dew
• Powerade
• Topo Chico
• Minute Maid

Globally, it is the top provider of sparkling beverages, ready-to-drink coffees, juices, and juice drinks.

Through the world’s most extensive beverage distribution system, consumers in more than 200 countries enjoy the company’s beverages at a rate of more than 1.9 billion servings a day. It’s also important to remember that the company owns 16.7% of Monster Beverage (NASDAQ: MNST), which continues to deliver big numbers.

Morgan Stanley has an Overweight rating with an $87 target price.

Colgate-Palmolive

This is a consumer staples giant that has been very conservative, paying a dividend every year since 1895 (130 years), currently yielding 2.14%. Colgate-Palmolive Co. (NYSE: CL) is a growth company focused on Oral Care, Personal Care, Home Care, and Pet Nutrition.

The company sells its products under brands, such as:

• Colgate
• Palmolive
• Elmex
• Hello
• Meridol
• Sorriso
• Tom’s of Maine
• EltaMD
• Filorga
• Irish Spring
• Lady Speed Stick
• PCA SKIN
• Protex
• Sanex
• Softsoap
• Speed Stick
• Ajax
• Axion
• Fabuloso
• Murphy
• Soupline and Suavitel
• Hill’s Science Diet and Hill’s Prescription Diet

The Home Care product segment, which is managed geographically in five segments, such as:

• North America
• Latin America
• Europe
• Asia Pacific
• Africa/Eurasia

All the segments sell primarily to a variety of traditional and e-commerce retailers, wholesalers, distributors, dentists, and skin health professionals.

The Pet Nutrition products include specialty pet nutrition products manufactured and marketed by Hill’s Pet Nutrition. Customers of Pet Nutrition products include authorized pet supply retailers, veterinarians, and e-commerce retailers.

Goldman Sachs has a Buy rating with a $100 target price.

Eli Lilly

This blue-chip healthcare giant has paid dividends to shareholders since 1885, and it offers a small 0.59% yield. Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) is a medicine company that discovers, develops, manufactures, and markets products in the human pharmaceutical products segment.

Its cardiometabolic health products include:

• Basaglar
• Humalog
• Humalog Mix 75/25
• Humalog U-100
• Humalog U-200
• Humalog Mix 50/50
• Humulin
• Humulin 70/30
• Jardiance
• Mounjaro
• Trulicity
• Zepbound

Its oncology products include Cyramza, Erbitux, Tyvyt, and Verzenio. The company’s immunology products include Ebglyss, Olumiant, Omvoh, and Taltz, while its neuroscience products include Emgality and Kisunla.

Through its POINT Biopharma Global subsidiary, Lilly is engaged in radiopharmaceutical discovery, development, and manufacturing efforts, as well as the development of clinical and preclinical radioligand therapies for cancer treatment. It is also developing an oral small-molecule inhibitor of a4b7 integrin for inflammatory bowel disease. It also owns a lead therapeutic molecule, FXR314.

Barclays has an Overweight rating with a $1,350 target price.

Exxon Mobil

Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) manages an industry-leading portfolio of resources; is one of the world’s largest integrated fuels, lubricants, and chemical companies; and has paid dividends since 1882. Despite the rise in oil prices, investors have a solid entry point for the stock, and they will likely seize the opportunity to secure a strong 2.67% dividend yield. Exxon is the world’s largest international integrated oil and gas company, exploring for and producing crude oil and natural gas in the North and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia/Oceania.

Exxon Mobil also manufactures and markets commodity petrochemicals, including olefins, aromatics, polyethylene, and polypropylene plastics, as well as specialty products. Additionally, the company transports and sells crude oil, natural gas, and petroleum products.

Top Wall Street analysts expect the company to remain a key beneficiary in a higher oil price environment, and most remain optimistic about the company’s sharp positive inflection in capital allocation strategy, upstream portfolio, and leverage to a further demand recovery. In addition, Exxon offers greater Downstream/Chemicals exposure than its peers.

Exxon has completed its purchase of oil shale giant Pioneer Natural Resources in an all-stock transaction valued at $59.5 billion. The deal created the largest U.S. oilfield producer and guarantees a decade of low-cost production.

UBS has a Buy rating with a $171 target price.

Stanley Black & Decker

Stanley Black & Decker (NYSE: SWK) is the world’s largest tool company, with 50 manufacturing facilities in the United States and more than 100 worldwide, and it has paid a dividend for over 145 years. With the potential for the economy to slow down somewhat, you can bet that the do-it-yourself legions will fix rather than buy new, and this legendary stock is a solid idea now, paying a rich 3.68% dividend.

The company provides hand tools, power tools, outdoor products, and related accessories in the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, and elsewhere. Its Tools & Outdoor segment offers professional-grade corded and cordless electric power tools and equipment, including:

• Drills
• Impact wrenches and drivers
• Grinders, saws, routers, and sanders
• Pneumatic tools and fasteners, such as nail guns, nails, staplers and staples, and concrete and masonry anchors; corded and cordless electric power tools
• Hand-held vacuums, paint tools, and cleaning appliances
• Leveling and layout tools, planes, hammers, demolition tools, clamps, vises, knives, saws, chisels, and industrial and automotive tools
• Drill, screwdriver, router bits, abrasives, saw blades, and threading products
• Toolboxes, sawhorses, medical cabinets, and engineered storage solutions
• Electric and gas-powered lawn and garden products

This segment sells its products under these brand names:

• DeWalt
• Craftsman
• Cub Cadet
• Black+Decker
• Hustler

The company’s Industrial segment provides:

• Threaded fasteners, blind rivets and tools, blind inserts and tools
• Drawn arc weld studs and systems
• Engineered plastic and mechanical fasteners
• Self-piercing riveting systems
• Precision nut running systems
• Micro fasteners
• High-strength structural fasteners
• Axel swage, latches, heat shields, pins, couplings, fittings, and other engineered products
• Attachments used on excavators and handheld tools

This segment sells its products through a direct sales force and third-party distributors to the automotive, manufacturing, electronics, construction, aerospace, and other industries.

Citigroup has a Buy rating on the shares and a $100 target price.