These Dividend Aristocrats Have Raised Their Dividends for 25+ Years

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NextEra Energy (NEE) grew its adjusted earnings to $7.683 billion in 2025 and has increased its dividends for three decades.
After 34 straight years of dividend hikes, Linde (LIN) remains profitable with 6% year-over-year adjusted EPS growth in 2025.
FactSet Research Systems (FDS) grew its Q1 FY2026 EPS by 3.2% year over year and has raised its dividend distributions for 27 consecutive years.
United Bankshares (UBSI) reported record earnings for 2025, and UBSI stock’s 3.63% dividend yield should tempt passive income seekers.
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By David Moadel Published Mar 2, 8:39AM EST

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These Dividend Aristocrats Have Raised Their Dividends for 25+ Years — © 24/7 Wall St.

To build a bulletproof dividend portfolio, you’ll want to identify rock-solid companies with strong track records of distributing cash to the shareholders. Among the best ones that deserve your attention and capital are a class of publicly listed businesses known as dividend aristocrats.

Mind you, a company can’t just call itself a dividend aristocrat for no good reason. To qualify for this designation, a business must have increased its dividend payments (in terms of dollar amounts and not necessarily yield percentages) for at least 25 years.

When you invest in dividend aristocrats, you should get a feeling of reassurance because these are typically companies that respect their shareholders. Therefore, today’s list only includes financially stable businesses with a history of 25+ years of uninterrupted dividend raises.

NextEra Energy (NEE)

It makes sense to start out with a relatively safe stock pick, and electric companies are often considered a safe haven for investors. Hence, we’ll select utilities giant NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) as our first dividend aristocrat today.

To reiterate, no company belongs on this list unless it has a record of at least 25 consecutive years of dividend growth. As it turns out, NextEra Energy has earned aristocrat status after 30 years of dividend hikes.

Even if it’s a true dividend aristocrat, I wouldn’t mention NextEra Energy unless the company had evidence of profitability. The good news is that NextEra Energy is profitable and in fact, the company improved its adjusted earnings from $7.063 billion in 2024 to $7.683 billion in 2025.

In other words, NextEra Energy has plenty of income to report and can easily afford to pay its dividend distributions. If you’re ready to give NEE stock a chance, you can purchase a few shares in anticipation of NextEra Energy’s generous 2.66% annual dividend.

Linde (LIN)

Falling into the basic industrial materials category, Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) may not be a household name but it’s nonetheless an important company. To sum it up, Linde supplies gases such as hydrogen, helium, and nitrogen for industrial uses.

Does Linde actually qualify as a true-blue dividend aristocrat? The cutoff number is 25, but that’s not a problem for Linde since the company has a 34-year history of dividend growth.

To give you some data from a financial standpoint, 2025 was a good year for Linde as the company’s sales increased 3% year over year to $34 billion. Additionally, Linde’s adjusted earnings expanded 6% to $16.46 per share.

Chances are, you won’t need to lose sleep worrying about Linde potentially cutting its dividend distributions in 2026. Currently, LIN stock’s forward annual dividend yield is 1.26% and if you want to participate, you can start by conducting your due diligence on Linde.

FactSet Research Systems (FDS)

Yet another aristocratic firm for your consideration is FactSet Research Systems (NYSE:FDS). Well known to many traders and investors, FactSet Research Systems provides a financial digital platform along with extensive market research.

While FactSet Research Systems doesn’t hold the record for the most years of dividend growth, it’s still a genuine aristocrat. To be specific, FactSet Research Systems’ history of consecutive dividend increases goes back 27 years.

It’s reasonable to wonder whether FactSet Research Systems is an income-positive business, but there’s no need to worry about that. The data shows that FactSet Research Systems improved its first-quarter fiscal 2026 adjusted diluted earnings by 3.2% year over year to $4.51 per share.

We’re sticking to the facts today, and the numbers strongly suggest that FactSet Research Systems is a stable and reliable dividend aristocrat. Income investors should definitely look into FDS stock as FactSet Research Systems provides a respectable dividend yield of 2.03%.

United Bankshares (UBSI)

Finishing off this list of four long-standing dividend growers, I’ve got a reliable financial firm that you can bank on. I’m referring to United Bankshares (NASDAQ:UBSI), which offers commercial and retail banking services in the U.S.

A lengthy history of dividend hikes should help any skeptical investor build confidence in United Bankshares. Truly, this company has earned the title of dividend aristocrat as United Bankshares can boast 37 years of uninterrupted dividend growth.

You should expect a banking business to be in firm financial condition, and United Bankshares appears to pass that test. The company proudly disclosed record earnings of $464.6 million for 2025 versus $373 million in 2024. Plus, United Bankshares’ earnings grew from $94.4 million in 2024’s fourth quarter to $128.8 million in Q4 2025.

Now that you know some essential stats about United Bankshares, today might be a good day to start a share position. By purchasing UBSI stock, you can look forward to consistent cash distributions from a dividend aristocrat that offers a 3.63% annual yield.