Kiplinger Dividend 15: Our Top Dividend Picks

The Dividend 15 celebrates its first birthday with just one change.

- John Waggoner

WHO DOESN’T LOVE A DIVIDEND? AS THE Kiplinger Dividend 15, the list of our favorite dividend-paying stocks, marks its first anniversary, we can say that our choices have doled out plenty of dividend love over the past year, with an average yield of 3.7%.

Dividends aren’t all the Dividend 15 has delivered. The picks on our list have returned an average 6.8%, counting both price gains and dividends. Does that beat the broad stock market? Nope. The total return for Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index was 10.6% during the same period. But people don’t usually buy dividend stocks to beat the market. Income is the main course; appreciation is the gravy.

A warning: Like the stock market in general, many of the Dividend 15 are trading at or near their all-time highs. In a downturn, dividend payouts will cushion the blow but not eliminate it.

We are making just one change in the list, pulling CVS. Although the stock has performed well, it broke its streak of dividend increases, which was one reason we recommended it. We’re replacing it with pharmaceutical giant AbbVie. We’re keeping the rest of the Dividend 15, which we divide into three groups, for their dividend stability, briskly growing payouts or high yields. Find a stock below that suits your needs, or select a mix. Prices and other data are as of October 12.

Dividend stalwarts. To be included in this group, companies must have increased their dividends for at least 20 consecutive years. A 60-year record of increasing dividends looks poised to continue at