Dividends
Dividend Growth
Dividend growth is the pace at which a company raises the cash it pays shareholders.
A static yield shrinks in real terms if the payout never rises. Dividend growth is how an income stream keeps up with inflation and eventually overtakes a bond. The attractive pattern is a moderate starting yield plus a raise every year, funded by rising free cash flow.
A single large increase can be a catch-up or a peak. Look at the streak and at earnings growth beside it. If the dividend grows faster than earnings for long enough, the payout ratio climbs until the streak breaks. The aristocrat lists are a history of raises, not a guarantee of the next one.
Formula
Dividend growth = (this year's dividend − last year's) ÷ last year's dividend
Live example
Apple Inc. (AAPL) last printed at $345.33 with a market cap of $5.04T. This quote has no dividend yield, which is itself the example: yield is blank when no dividend is being capitalized.
Related
Dividend Aristocrat · Payout Ratio · Yield on Cost
See it on a list: best stocks · screener
Questions
How many years matter?
A five-year growth rate is more informative than one raise. A decade of raises through a recession is evidence, not decoration.
Does a cut end the thesis?
It ends the 'reliable grower' thesis. It can still leave a cheap stock. Those are different investments. Do not pretend they are the same.