These S&P 500 Stocks Created The Highest Shareholder Return Over The Past 25 Years

The S&P 500 had total returns of 7.2% a year over the last 25 years. At this rate, the S&P 500 doubled investor wealth every 10 years.

Investors often think of dividend stocks as stodgy slow growers that offer current income but little in the way of capital appreciation. This is often not the case.

In fact, if you look at the top 15 dividend stocks of the past 25 years, you'll see that even the worst of them way outperforms the market.

To find the 15 best-performing dividend stocks of the last 25 years, we reviewed the dividend history of all dividend-paying stocks in the S&P 500. Businesses that paid dividends from 1990 through 2015 without missing more than one year were included as dividend stocks.

Here are the 15 best stocks from the large index with the highest total return of the past 25 years.

Ex-Dividend Date Reminder For Next Week (January 23-29, 2012)

Here is a current overview of best yielding large capitalized stocks that have their ex-dividend date next week. If your broker settles your trade before the ex-date, you will receive the next dividend. A full list of all stocks with ex-dividend date can be found here: Ex-Dividend Stocks On January 23-29, 2012. In total, 17 large cap stocks and preferred shares go ex-dividend of which 7 yielding above 3 percent. The average yield amounts to 4.81 percent.

The ex-dividend date is a major date related to the payment of dividends. If you purchase a stock on its ex-dividend date or later, you will not receive the next dividend payment. Instead, the seller gets the dividend. If you purchase before the ex-dividend date, you get the dividend. It is important that your broker settle your trade before the ex-dividend date.

These are the results of the best yielding stocks:


Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP (KMP) has a market capitalization of USD 28.93 Billion and operates within the “Oil & Gas Pipelines” industry. These are the market ratios of the company:


P/E Ratio: 542.88,
Forward P/E Ratio: 37.28,
Price/Sales Ratio: 3.56,
Price/Book Ratio: 3.79,
Dividend Yield: 5.34%.

1-Year Chart Of Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP (Click to enlarge)

Long-Term Dividends History of Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP (KMP) (Click to enlarge)

Enterprise Products Partners LP (EPD) has a market capitalization of USD 43.16 Billion and operates within the “Independent Oil & Gas” industry. These are the market ratios of the company:


P/E Ratio: 25.90,
Forward P/E Ratio: 21.64,
Price/Sales Ratio: 1.02,
Price/Book Ratio: 3.74,
Dividend Yield: 5.03%.

1-Year Chart Of Enterprise Products Partners LP (Click to enlarge)

Long-Term Dividends History of Enterprise Products Partners LP (EPD) (Click to enlarge)

ONEOK Partners, L.P. (OKS) has a market capitalization of USD 11.37 Billion and operates within the “Oil & Gas Pipelines” industry. These are the market ratios of the company:


P/E Ratio: 21.14,
Forward P/E Ratio: 21.06,
Price/Sales Ratio: 1.08,
Price/Book Ratio: 3.42,
Dividend Yield: 4.27%.

1-Year Chart Of ONEOK Partners, L.P. (Click to enlarge)

Long-Term Dividends History of ONEOK Partners, L.P. (OKS) (Click to enlarge)

Royal Bank of Canada (RY) has a market capitalization of USD 76.49 Billion and operates within the “Money Center Banks” industry. These are the market ratios of the company:


P/E Ratio: 12.21,
Forward P/E Ratio: 10.54,
Price/Sales Ratio: 4.13,
Price/Book Ratio: 1.88,
Dividend Yield: 4.01%.

1-Year Chart Of Royal Bank of Canada (Click to enlarge)

Long-Term Dividends History of Royal Bank of Canada (RY) (Click to enlarge)

Kinder Morgan, Inc. (KMI) has a market capitalization of USD 23.17 Billion and operates within the “Oil & Gas Pipelines” industry. These are the market ratios of the company:


P/E Ratio: 46.15,
Forward P/E Ratio: 26.22,
Price/Sales Ratio: 2.82,
Price/Book Ratio: 7.69,
Dividend Yield: 3.66%.

1-Year Chart Of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (Click to enlarge)

Long-Term Dividends History of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (KMI) (Click to enlarge)

ConAgra Foods, Inc. (CAG) has a market capitalization of USD 11.16 Billion and operates within the “Processed & Packaged Goods” industry. These are the market ratios of the company:


P/E Ratio: 14.95,
Forward P/E Ratio: 13.81,
Price/Sales Ratio: 0.87,
Price/Book Ratio: 2.38,
Dividend Yield: 3.55%.

1-Year Chart Of ConAgra Foods, Inc. (Click to enlarge)

Long-Term Dividends History of ConAgra Foods, Inc. (CAG) (Click to enlarge)

Vornado Realty Trust (VNO) has a market capitalization of USD 14.85 Billion and operates within the “REIT - Diversified” industry. These are the market ratios of the company:


P/E Ratio: 23.26,
Forward P/E Ratio: 25.88,
Price/Sales Ratio: 5.20,
Price/Book Ratio: 2.20,
Dividend Yield: 3.43%.

1-Year Chart Of Vornado Realty Trust (Click to enlarge)

Long-Term Dividends History of Vornado Realty Trust (VNO) (Click to enlarge)