The past decade has been a godsend for income investors that have owned McDonald’s stock because the profits have grown by 14.5% annually and the dividend has grown by 25.5% annually. Those $0.55 annual dividends in 2004 became $3.40 dividends in 2014. You were to able capture two things that were happening simultaneously over the past ten years while you held McDonald’s stock: (1) profits continued to grow, and (2) the payout ratio continued to grow as McDonald’s went from paying 28% of its profits as dividends to paying out 58% of its profits as dividends.
Such opportunities are hard to find ahead of time, but they can be lucrative additions to your portfolio when you find them because it’s great being along for the ride of a company that is raising its dividend by 10%, 15%, or 20% in a year. Do I have a candidate for consideration … Read the rest of this article!