Updated on July 8th, 2025 by Felix Martinez
The Dividend Kings are the best of the best when it comes to returning cash to shareholders.
These stocks have histories of over 50 years of increasing their dividends to shareholders. Due to their earnings stability and impressive dividend track records, they are generally sought out by long-term income investors.
Just 55 companies qualify as Dividend Kings; you can see all 55 Dividend Kings here.
You can also download an Excel spreadsheet with the full list of Dividend Kings (plus metrics that matter, such as price-to-earnings ratios and dividend yields) by clicking on the link below:
Colgate-Palmolive (CL) is a consumer staples conglomerate that has increased its dividend for 64 consecutive years, one of the longest streaks in the entire stock market.
Perhaps more impressively, Colgate-Palmolive has continuously paid dividends on its common stock since 1895.
Colgate-Palmolive has been working on increasing its growth in recent years. The company has made notable progress since the pandemic.
Below, we’ll discuss the company’s growth prospects, valuation, and dividend.
Business Overview
Colgate-Palmolive was founded in 1806 and has built an impressive and extensive portfolio of consumer brands. It operates globally, selling in most countries around the world.
About one-sixth of its revenue comes from Hill’s pet food division, which has shown very strong growth in recent years.
The other five-sixths of revenue comes from a mix of cleaning and personal care products, with the company’s most recognizable brands being Colgate (tooth care) and Palmolive (soap).
However, Colgate-Palmolive has built a diverse slate of brands besides its two namesake brands.
Colgate-Palmolive trades at a market capitalization of $76 billion, generating approximately $20.1 billion in annual revenue.
Source: Investor presentation
Colgate-Palmolive has structured itself into four units: Oral Care, Personal Care, Home Care, and Pet Nutrition.
The company has created and acquired numerous brands over time and, more recently, has worked to innovate with its best brands through line extensions.
Note: A line extension, short for ‘product line extension,’ is when a brand launches a new product in a category where it already has a presence. A line extension could be a new flavor, scent, special ingredient, etc.
Below, we’ll look at the company’s growth prospects.
Growth Prospects
We expect Colgate-Palmolive to post an average 5% earnings-per-share growth over the next five years, as it has several levers it can pull to drive the bottom line higher.
Since the company operates globally, it is exposed to foreign exchange translation, meaning it is subject to various currencies and their relative values against the dollar.
Additionally, commodity volatility has occasionally impacted profit margins, although the company has implemented cost-saving measures to mitigate this effect.
Another way Colgate-Palmolive has improved growth is by incorporating true innovation into its portfolio rather than just creating a slightly different version of an existing product.
That has worked well for the company as well, but the idea is to utilize its enormous R&D budget to create new products. Over time, this can lead to incremental revenue growth.
However, line extensions still work quite well for Colgate-Palmolive because it can leverage its highly recognizable global brands.
Colgate-Palmolive has done this with numerous products, with its Optic White Renewal being a particularly successful example.
Finally, Colgate-Palmolive has concentrated its R&D dollars on what it calls “premiumization,” which involves moving up-market with its products, as seen with Optic White.
This has led to significant organic sales growth in recent years.
Source: Investor presentation
Colgate-Palmolive has achieved fifteen consecutive quarters of organic sales growth at or above the target rate of 3% to 5%. Growth has accelerated in recent years, with the coronavirus pandemic only being a temporary setback.
This will drive much of the company’s growth in the years to come.
Competitive Advantages & Recession Performance
Colgate-Palmolive’s competitive advantage is its extensive product catalog and extremely well-known brands.
This has enabled the company to expand in size and scale globally, allowing it to bring products to market quickly and at competitive pricing.
Colgate-Palmolive’s recession record is extraordinary, having posted strong earnings gains during the Great Recession:
- 2007 earnings-per-share of $1.69
- 2008 earnings-per-share of $1.83 (8.3% increase)
- 2009 earnings-per-share of $2.19 (19.7% increase)
- 2010 earnings-per-share of $2.16 (-1.4% decline)
While earnings dipped very slightly in 2010, Colgate-Palmolive clearly performed exceptionally well during times of economic duress.
Colgate-Palmolive has managed to build a portfolio that not only withstands recessions but also thrives during such periods.
Valuation & Expected Returns
We expect 5% earnings-per-share growth in the coming years, and the current dividend yield is 2.2%. This means earnings growth and dividends could provide returns above 7.2% per year.
Additionally, shares trade today at 25 times this year’s expected earnings, which is above our fair value estimate of 24 times earnings per share. Therefore, we expect a -1% annual headwind to total returns in the next five years.
This does not significantly help expected earnings growth or the dividend yield, but total returns are expected to be just 6.2% over the next five years.
The dividend is just 57% of this year’s earnings, and we expect the payout ratio to remain around 50% for the foreseeable future.
Therefore, we expect earnings to rise somewhat faster than the dividend. Regardless, we expect Colgate-Palmolive to remain a solid dividend growth stock.
Final Thoughts
Colgate-Palmolive has an impressive history of expanding its portfolio over time, and its recent focus on innovation has further fueled this growth.
We expect the company to continue growing in the coming years and to see many years of dividend increases as well.
The stock appears to be slightly overvalued, which could limit its total return potential. We currently rate Colgate-Palmolive as a hold. If it were to trade lower, it would once again be a buy.
The following articles contain stocks with very long dividend or corporate histories, ripe for selection for dividend growth investors:
- The High Yield Dividend Aristocrats List is comprised of the 20 Dividend Aristocrats with the highest current yields.
- The Dividend Achievers List is comprised of ~400 stocks with 10+ years of consecutive dividend increases.
- The High Yield Dividend Kings List is comprised of the 20 Dividend Kings with the highest current yields.
- The Blue Chip Stocks List: stocks that qualify as Dividend Achievers, Dividend Aristocrats, and/or Dividend Kings
- The High Dividend Stocks List: stocks that appeal to investors interested in the highest yields of 5% or more.
- The Monthly Dividend Stocks List: stocks that pay dividends every month, for 12 dividend payments per year.
- The Dividend Champions List: stocks that have increased their dividends for 25+ consecutive years.
Note: Not all Dividend Champions are Dividend Aristocrats because Dividend Aristocrats have additional requirements like being in The S&P 500. - The Dividend Contenders List: 10-24 consecutive years of dividend increases.
- The Dividend Challengers List: 5-9 consecutive years of dividend increases.
- The Best DRIP Stocks: The top 15 Dividend Aristocrats with no-fee dividend reinvestment plans.
- The High ROIC Stocks List: The top 10 stocks with high returns on invested capital.
- The High Beta Stocks List: The 100 stocks in the S&P 500 Index with the highest beta.
- The Low Beta Stocks List: The 100 stocks in the S&P 500 Index with the lowest beta
- The Complete List of Russell 2000 Stocks
- The Complete List of NASDAQ-100 Stocks