3M Co (MMM), The Procter & Gamble Company (PG): 5 Dividend Stocks for the Next 50 Years

For investors, the ability to adapt and the scale to dominate competition created a company that’s very difficult to compete with. They’ve been rewarded with a 2.7% yield and 52 straight years of dividend increases, and I think another 50 years is on the horizon.

Colgate-Palmolive Company (NYSE:CL)
Toothpaste and toothbrushes may not be exciting business, but it’s consistent and consumers tend to develop habits they rarely break. Once they find a toothpaste brand they like, it could be years before they try another one. That leads to another incredibly consistent business for Colgate-Palmolive Company (NYSE:CL), one that has paid back investors with a dividend since 1895.

For the past 50 years Colgate-Palmolive Company (NYSE:CL) has increased its payment to investors, and the stock now yields 2.3%. Throughout the recession, Colgate-Palmolive Company (NYSE:CL) didn’t just make a token dividend increase to investors; it’s nearly doubled its quarterly dividend since 2007. It takes one consistent business to pull off that kind of dividend bump in the worst of times.

McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD)
No matter how many times McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) is in the headlines for its unhealthy food, the company always seems to come back to form. There’s just something about the smell of McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) that brings in the customers.

Since the company started paying a dividend in 1976, it hasn’t gone a year without an increase, and the stock now yields 3.1%. That’s not as long a history as the companies above, but McDonald’s will continue to adapt and grow in the fast-food business. Life isn’t slowing down and the fast pace of eating won’t either.

The article 5 Dividend Stocks for the Next 50 Years originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor Travis Hoium has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends 3M, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, and Procter & Gamble. The Motley Fool owns shares of McDonald’s.

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