It's my belief that the ASX dividend shares that show at least a decade's worth of dividend pay rises are always worth a deeper dive.
Paying dividends inherently weakens a company, given that the cash is sent out the door, never to return. As such, it's usually only the strongest and most financially sound businesses that can afford to keep raising their dividend payments year in and year out.
Over in the United States, there are a few stocks, known as 'dividend kings', that boast more than 50 years' worth of dividend pay rises. There are also the dividend aristocrats, with a 25-year streak.
Here on the ASX, we have no dividend nobility, at least yet. But we do have some ASX dividend shares that have at least a ten-year streak of boosting their shareholder payouts every year. Here are three of them.
3 ASX dividend shares that deliver over decades
TechnologyOne Ltd (ASX: TNE)
Normally, ASX tech shares aren't well-known for their dividend chops. That would appear to be the case with TechnologyOne, too, particularly given this enterprise software company's current dividend yield of 0.71%.
Yet TechnologyOne has one of the best dividend streaks on the ASX and certainly in the tech space. This company has increased its annual dividend payout every year since 2012. That's 11 years and counting. In 2012, the company doled out an annual total of 5.09 cents per share. But last year, investors enjoyed 19.52 cents per share in total payouts.
We don't yet know what 2024's total will be. That said, the interim dividend of 5.08 cents per share that investors bagged in March was a near-10% hike over 2023's interim dividend of 4.65 cents per share.
APA Group (ASX: APA)
Next up is APA Group, a gas pipeline operator with an impressive income streak of its own. This ASX 200 share's dividend-raising record stands at 19 years.
Yep, APA has upped its annual dividends every consecutive year since 2004. That's despite APA delivering fairly modest annual dividend pay rises.
It has already told investors that its dividend total for 2024 will come in at 56 cents per share, a 1.82% rise over 2023's total of 55 cents. That certainly looks pretty good compared to the 21.5 cents shareholders received in 2004.
At current pricing, APA stock is trading on a dividend yield of 7.39%.
Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Co Ltd (ASX: SOL)
We couldn't have a list of the ASX's longest-paying dividend shares without including ASX 200 investment house Soul Patts. Soul Patts is an investment company that looks after a vast portfolio of underlying assets on behalf of its shareholders. It has been doing so for more than a century.
But what makes this company remarkable is that it currently holds the ASX's record for the longest-running streak of annual dividend pay rises. Soul Patts has increased its annual dividend every single year since 2000. That's 24 years and counting.
If the company continues this streak into 2025, we'll have a bonafide ASX dividend aristocrat on our hands.
Just like with TechnologyOne, we don't yet know what 2024's grand total will look like. However, signs are positive given that Soul Patts delivered a 40 cent per share interim dividend in May, an 11.1% hike over last year's interim dividend of 6 cents per share.
Unlike the above two stocks, Soul Patts' dividends usually come with full franking credits attached too, which is an added bonus.
At the current Soul Patts share price, this company has a 2.69% yield on the table.
