Dividend-paying stocks come in all shapes and sizes. Yet those with a solid history of regular, long-term payouts are not always the biggest names. Here, we dug into the farthest corners of the investment universe to uncover a trio of healthy-yielding companies with a good record of paying. They include one small-cap, one mid-cap and one bigger-cap name you're more likely to know.
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Healthcare Services Group (Nasdaq:HCSG) provides laundry, housekeeping, linen and food services to more than 2,000 nursing homes, hospitals and rehabilitation centers across America. The stock trades with a 4% yield and is up about 50% from October 2008 lows.
For the last five years, HCSG has managed to grow earnings by an average of 25.7% annually. It has also raised the dividend for 24 consecutive quarters, most recently by a full 6% after profits surged in Q2 by more than 12%. (Learn more about dividends in our article Dissecting Declarations, Ex-Dividends And Record Dates.)
Light Up And Earn
Lorillard (NYSE:LO) manufactures cigarettes, including the Newport and Kent brands. The company pays a 5% annual dividend and trades with a one-year, trailing P/E multiple of about 13.
Lorillard earnings per share jumped by almost 37% in the latest quarter, up to $1.71 from $1.25 in the same period a year ago. The company has also approved a share repurchase program that would see $1 billion worth of Lorillard common stock bought and retired from trade in the coming year.
Since bottoming in late January, the stock has risen 40% and trades at $72. Lorillard currently sports a relatively large market cap of $12 billion.
Banking On Quarterly Distributions
Harleysville Savings Financial Corp. (Nasdaq:HARL) is a bank operating in Southeast Pennsylvania with a market cap of just over $50 million. The company just upped its dividend by 5.6% to 19 cents per share, making it a full decade that shareholders have received a raise in the quarterly distribution. The current yield on the stock is slightly over 5%, and it trades with a P/E multiple of about 10.5.
Harleysville stock is up 40% from its March bottom.
The Wrap
Investors who are thorough and want to search out a reasonable income for their investment dollar, and who also desire some security that distributions will be paid - and raised over time - would do well to consider the three above-mentioned companies.
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