Procter & Gamble Has Raised Its Dividend for 70 Years. These 4 Stocks Also Reward Patience
A dividend that keeps growing beats a fat yield that gets cut, but only if the company can actually afford to keep raising it. These five blue chips clear that bar, and one has done it every single year for…
Income investors are better served by a payout that keeps growing for decades than by a fat yield that gets cut, and these five blue chips are built for that. Each funds its dividend from recurring cash flow, keeps its payout ratio at a level it can cover, and has a long record of raising the check. At the long end of the list, Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG | PG Price Prediction) has now raised its dividend for 70 consecutive years. Forward yields on the list run from 1.50% to 5.17%. Every name pays you to wait, and every name has the cash to keep paying.
T. Rowe Price
T. Rowe Price (NASDAQ:TROW) carries the highest yield on the list. Its annualized forward dividend of $5.20 on a share price of $100.54 works out to a forward yield of about 5.17%.
Dividend safety: The payout takes about 53% of trailing earnings per share of $9.79, which leaves real room for error. The balance sheet has $3.23 billion in cash against $11.0 billion of shareholders’ equity, with very little debt. Operating cash flow reached $966.3 million in Q1 alone, and the firm returned $629 million to shareholders through dividends and buybacks that quarter. The regular quarterly dividend has gone up every year in the record, from $0.54 in 2016 to $1.30 in 2026, and the payment history runs back to 1999.
Bull case: Assets under management hit a record $1.89 trillion in Q2, adjusted EPS of $2.57 beat the $2.52 estimate, and net income rose 25.1% year over year. ETF net inflows of $4.4 billion show the firm can win money in the products where the industry is growing. At about 10 times trailing earnings, the stock is priced as if that progress isn’t happening.
Risk: Outflows. The firm lost $6.5 billion in net client outflows in Q2, and Chief Executive Rob Sharps warned that “We expect net flows in the second half of the year to be meaningfully more challenging than the first half.” Wall Street is skeptical too: the stock has zero Buy ratings, 9 Holds and 4 Sell or Strong Sell calls.
Cisco Systems
Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) has the lowest yield here, because the stock is up 48.04% year to date. The forward dividend of $1.68 on a price of $111.99 works out to about 1.50%. The next $0.42 payment goes out on October 21, 2026.
Dividend safety: The forward dividend uses about 39% of fiscal 2026 non-GAAP EPS of $4.33. Cisco generated $14.18 billion in operating cash flow in fiscal 2026 and paid $6.6 billion in cash dividends. It has $15.9 billion in cash and investments. In fiscal 2026 the company raised its dividend for the 15th consecutive year.
Bull case: AI now drives Cisco’s growth. Hyperscaler AI infrastructure orders totaled $9.3 billion in fiscal 2026, and management expects AI infrastructure revenue to reach about $7.5 billion in fiscal 2027. Fiscal 2027 non-GAAP EPS guidance of $5.05 to $5.11 points to strong earnings growth, and the payout grows with it. Investors here are buying dividend growth more than current yield.
Risk: Total capital returns in fiscal 2026 used up 99% of free cash flow, so buybacks leave little buffer. Product gross margin also slipped to 64.8% as lower-margin hardware made up more of sales.
Medtronic
Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) yields about 3.04%, based on its $2.88 annualized dividend and a $94.76 share price. Its latest $0.72 payment comes October 16, 2026.
Dividend safety: Medtronic has raised its dividend for 49 consecutive years. The dividend is roughly 48% of the low end of fiscal 2027 non-GAAP EPS guidance ($5.94). Free cash flow jumped 120.9% to $1.29 billion in Q1. That covered the $921 million paid in dividends, which came to roughly 71% of the quarter’s free cash flow. The chief financial officer summed it up: “We’ve got a strong balance sheet.”
Bull case: Growth has sped up. Q1 revenue rose 13.7%, Cardiac Ablation Solutions grew 88%, and management raised fiscal 2027 organic growth guidance to 7.25% to 7.75%. For about 15 times forward earnings, you get a 49-year dividend grower whose sales are growing faster than they have in years. Analysts agree: 19 rate it a Buy or Strong Buy, and none rate it a Sell.
Risk: Splitting off the Diabetes business adds complexity, and tariffs cost 80 basis points of margin in Q4 of fiscal 2026. An extra fiscal week also added about $570 million to Q1, so expect growth to slow to roughly 6% organic in Q2.
Johnson & Johnson
Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) yields about 2.07%, based on a forward dividend of $5.36 and shares trading at $259.12. It declared its next $1.34 quarterly payment on October 13, 2026.
Dividend safety: J&J is a Dividend King with 64 consecutive years of increases, the latest a 3.1% raise. The forward dividend uses about 48% of the midpoint of updated adjusted EPS guidance ($11.10). Management expects about $21 billion in free cash flow for the full year, including more than $6 billion in Q3. Net debt is about $28 billion, which is easy to carry at that level of cash generation. The chief financial officer listed “increasing our annual dividend” as a capital allocation priority.
Here’s the bull case: the drug pipeline is replacing lost STELARA sales faster than expected. Oncology grew about 17% in Q3, TREMFYA rose 68.2%, and the company says it is on track to exceed $100 billion in annual revenue for the first time.
Risk: MedTech grew only 2.5% in Q3, and the medical device miss weighed on the stock after the report according to CNBC. On top of that, the proposed $5.5 billion talc settlement depends on 95% of remaining ovarian claimants signing on.
Procter & Gamble
P&G yields about 2.75%, based on a $4.354 forward dividend and a $158.47 share price. To collect the next $1.0885 payment, you need to own the stock before the October 23, 2026 ex-dividend date.
Dividend safety: P&G has paid a dividend for 136 consecutive years and raised it for 70 years in a row. The forward dividend takes about 63% of fiscal 2026 core EPS of $6.89. The planned $10 billion in fiscal 2027 dividends equals about 63% of last year’s $15.84 billion in free cash flow.
Bull case: P&G sells products people buy in any economy. Beauty grew 6%, and management plans to return $15 billion to shareholders in fiscal 2027. Its productivity program delivered $2.8 billion in pre-tax savings last year, which funds marketing and the dividend at the same time.
Risk: Growth is slow. Organic sales were flat in Q4, and fiscal 2027 guidance includes about $1 billion in commodity pressures. That keeps core EPS guidance to $6.89 to $7.11, so expect modest dividend raises.
Five Payouts Backed by Cash Flow
T. Rowe Price currently offers the most income, Cisco the fastest dividend growth, and Medtronic, Johnson & Johnson and P&G the longest records of raises. All five keep their payout ratios between roughly 39% and 63% and fund the dividend from recurring cash flow. Upcoming milestones include J&J’s December 8, 2026 business review and T. Rowe Price’s second-half flow numbers.
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Chris Lange is a financial and geopolitical writer with more than a decade of experience covering a myriad of topics. He has published thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St., with past coverage focused heavily on stocks, IPOs, healthcare, defense, global affairs, and technology.
His work has been quoted, or referenced by a number of outlets including Business Insider, USA Today, Yahoo Finance, MSN, The Motley Fool, and many other publications. A graduate of Southwestern University, he studied business with a focus on investments and has previous experience in banking and startups.
When not reading or writing the news, he is following his passion for Lacrosse, playing chess, or building solar projects with his dad.
