Editor’s Note: This article has been amended to correct Dupont’s dividend history. Motley Fool apologizes for the error.
Many dividend-seeking investors like to screen for sky-high yielding companies when looking for their next possible investment opportunity. While there is nothing inherently wrong about this strategy, high yields alone can often mean little if the company lacks the financial strength to maintain and continually increase their dividend payouts. Some of the most consistently well-performing companies have been those who value dividend appreciation. And in the world of consistent dividend payers, few are more consistent than companies with more than a hundred years of dividend payments.
Hundred Years of Baking Soda
Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD)’s management team has done a wonderful job of positioning the company to be able to pay out a dividend for another 112 consecutive years. If you looked at the company 10 years ago, you would hardly recognize it. A decade ago, Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD) was a company with just one signature brand (Arm & Hammer) and sales almost entirely from the United States. Today, Church & Dwight has seven additional “Power Brands” (OxiClean, Trojan, Nair, Spinbrush, Orajel, First Response and XTRA) and receives 18% of its sales from overseas. With seven of their eight Power Brands (all except XTRA) occupying the No. 1 position in their respective product categories, and management’s increased emphasis on international sales, current investors should be very optimistic about the future growth of Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD).
Hundred Years of Chemicals
E I Du Pont De Nemours And Co (NYSE:DD) is a true superstar in the world of dividend-paying companies. E I Du Pont De Nemours And Co (NYSE:DD) has demonstrated an impressive long-term commitment to dividend appreciation.
Like all chemical companies, E I Du Pont De Nemours And Co (NYSE:DD) is partially at the mercy of the price of various hydrocarbons (oil, natural gas) as one of the company’s biggest raw material cost. But in recent years, E I Du Pont De Nemours And Co (NYSE:DD) has had a major leg up on its European and Asian competition. While natural gas prices elsewhere in the world are relatively high, natural gas prices in America are near all-time lows thanks to the fracking revolution.
Since natural gas is not easily transported or priced on a world market like oil is, foreign chemical companies have no choice but to purchase the much more expensive hydrocarbon raw materials available to them. Although plans are in the works, by companies like Cheniere Energy, Inc. (NYSEAMEX:LNG), to build export facilities to ship American natural gas overseas where prices are much higher, the advantage of operating in America with an abundance of cheap natural gas will continue to benefit E I Du Pont De Nemours And Co (NYSE:DD) for many years to come.
Hundred Years of Canadian Deposits
Non-US companies and investors tend to not place as much emphasis on consecutive annual payout increases. That is why Bank of Montreal (USA) (NYSE:BMO) will likely never appear on a Dividend Champion list. This Canadian bank’s policy is to pay out 40% to 50% of its earnings out as dividends. During some years that might mean a significantly higher dividend payout, while during others it might mean the same payout or even lower. What earns BMO a place on this list is the company’s record as the longest-running dividend paying company in Canada, having paid a dividend every year for the past 184 years.
