I always work under the assumption that an ASX 200 share that can continually grow its dividend is a strong ASX 200 share.
ASX investors love companies that pay dividends. But dividends represent a significant weight on a company's finances. As such, only the strongest and best-run companies can afford to continuously grow their shareholder payments.
So today, let's discuss three such companies, and what kind of income they have been giving their shareholders.
3 ASX 200 shares that are continuously growing their dividend payments
Coles Group Ltd (ASX: COL)
Coles has only been listed on the ASX in its own right since late 2018. But ever since, its management has clearly worked hard to establish Coles as one of the ASX's most reliable dividend payers.
This ASX 200 share has managed to grow its annual dividend every year since 2019, including throughout the pandemic. 2019 saw Coles shares pay out 35.5 cents per share to its investors. But this year in 2023, the company is on track to send 66 cents per share in fully-franked dividends to shareholders.
That's a pretty impressive growth trajectory. Right now, Coles shares offer a dividend yield of 4.16%.
Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES)
Wesfarmers is another ASX 200 share that has quite a reputation for strong and reliable dividend income. It's hard to illustrate this over the past ten years, as Wesfarrmers was the company that spun out Coles back in 2018.
At the time, Wesfarmers shareholders received one Coles share for every Wesfarmers share owned. So while long-term Wesfarmers investors who have held onto Coles shares have raked it in when it comes to dividends, it's harder to judge Wesfarmers history alone if we don't account for this.
But what we can say is that ever since 2019, Wesfarmers has continued to show that it can keep raising its payouts sans Coles. 2020 saw this ASX 200 share fork out a total of $1.70 in dividends per share. But in 2021, Wesfarmers raised this to $1.78, then $1.80 in 2022.
We don't yet know what 2023's final dividend will look like (stay tuned for Wesfarmers' earnings tomorrow). But we do know that 2023's interim dividend of 88 cents per share came in a lot higher than 2022's equivalent payment of 80 cents.
At present, Wesfarmers shares have a fully-franked dividend yield of 3.8%.
Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Co Ltd (ASX: SOL)
Last, but certainly not least when it comes to dividend growth, we have ASX 200 share and investment house Soul Patts.
Put simply, this company is dividend royalty on the ASX 200. No other share can even come close to matching Soul Patts' streak of raising its annual dividend every single year since 2000. That's throughout the dot-com bust, the global financial crisis, and the pandemic. Soul Patts has also paid out two dividends every single year since its ASX listing way back in 1903.
Again, Soul Patts hasn't reported its full-year earnings for 2023 yet. But its May interim dividend of 36 cents per share was a very happy rise from last year's interim payout of 29 cents per share. No other ASX 200 share can boast these sorts of impressive metrics, and Soul Patts arguably qualifies as a strong, sturdy income-paying share more than any other.
At the time of writing, Washington H. Soul Pattinson's fully-franked dividend yield is sitting at 2.45%.
