I’ve been a dividend growth investor for 11 years.

In a world where people’s opinions on things seem to change like the wind, I’ve been faithful to this investment strategy for more than a decade. It’s been easy to be so faithful.

Why? Because this strategy has been so faithful to me. My dividend growth stock portfolio faithfully produces dividend income that is incredibly reliable. Through thick and thin, these companies come through and pay out those dividends on schedule. I literally wake up to fresh money I didn’t go to sleep with.

This is an investment strategy that pays me to be loyal to it. But it gets better. This strategy isn’t just faithful; it’s also increasingly rewarding. High-quality dividend growth stocks are regularly increasing their dividends to their shareholders. That’s the growth in dividend growth investing. After all, passive income is great.

But it’s not so great if it isn’t increasing and at least keeping up with inflation. The costs of life are rising. And you want to make sure your passive income can keep up with, or even exceed, those rising costs.

Today, I want to tell you about three high-quality dividend growth stocks that just announced dividend increases. They’re faithfully rewarding their loyal, long-term shareholders with more money. Ready?

Let’s dig in.

Dividend Rewarder #1: Chevron Corporation (CVX)

Chevron just increased their dividend by 3.9%.

While that exceeds inflation, it’s also not a massive raise. However, it doesn’t need to be huge when you consider the fact that the stock yields 5.1% here. It’s a compelling combination of both income and growth. And this is one of the most reliable dividends in all of energy.

The oil & gas supermajor has increased its dividend for 34 consecutive years.

Again, faithfulness. Longtime Chevron shareholders have been rewarded with higher dividends year in and year out, like clockwork, for more than three straight decades. This recent increase wasn’t quite as high as what you might expect when you compare it to the 10-year dividend growth rate of 6.2%, but this is a very challenging time for energy.

But even during the toughest of times, Chevron comes through.

There is light at the end of this tunnel. The pandemic will end and demand for hydrocarbons will rise. And with the stock’s current yield being well above its five-year average yield of 4.3%, there could be an opportunity here.

Dividend Rewarder #2:  Apple Inc. (AAPL)

Apple increased its dividend by 7.3%.

An apple a day is supposed to keep the doctor away. Well, an Apple in your stock portfolio keeps the unwanted job away, because this stock is minting millionaires and paying out one of the safest growing dividends you’ll find.

This is the 10th consecutive year in which the tech company has increased its dividend.

With the company printing money almost like the US Treasury, we can count on plenty more dividend increases for years to come. In fact, we were so sure this dividend increase was coming that we put out a video in mid-March telling you that Apple was a lock for a dividend increase in the late April to early May timeframe.

I’ve said it before. I’ll say it again. This is a “must-own” stock for serious dividend growth investors.

While this 7.3% dividend increase was slightly below my expectations, as well as a bit lower than their five-year dividend growth rate of 9.7%, I’m not one to ever complain about getting paid more money for doing nothing other than holding shares. Apple isn’t super cheap, with a P/E ratio of near 30, but this is the kind of high-quality stock worth paying up for.

Dividend Rewarder #3: Brunswick Corporation (BC)

Brunswick just gave their shareholders a massive “pay raise” via their 24.1% dividend increase.

When’s the last time your boss gave you a 24% pay raise? How about that kind of pay raise for doing nothing? Well, that’s what Brunswick shareholders can lay claim to. Do nothing other than hold stock. Get a 24% increase in pay. That’s a pretty good deal.

This is the ninth consecutive year of dividend increases for the boat manufacturer.

Even after the big dividend boost, the payout ratio is only 28.6%. And with the dividend growth acceleration we can see here off of the five-year dividend growth rate of 13.5%, shareholders have a lot to look forward to.

The big problem for investors who want to buy in now is that the stock has gone on a huge run.

It’s up 45% this year alone. And one does wonder how sustainable some of their recent gains in the business are. However, this company was raising its dividend long before the pandemic gave them new boating customers. And it’s highly likely that they’ll continue to raise the dividend long after things normalize.

— Jason Fieber

P.S. If you’d like access to my entire six-figure dividend growth stock portfolio, as well as stock trades I make with my own money, I’ve made all of that available exclusively through Patreon.

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