through recessions and economic booms over decades of market volatility only eight companies in the s  p 500 have hiked their annual dividends yearin and yearout for at least 60 years given the recent turmoil across the banking sector and increased fears of a broader economic downturn investors seeking to pocket steady income can turn to these companies which are the most reliable of a group known as dividend aristocrats many of these companies are well known household names like 3m  cocacola  colgatepalmolive  johnson  johnson and procter  gamble  but the group also includes industrial conglomerate dover  manufacturing giant emerson electric and auto parts maker genuine parts  these companies have had management that have been able to change with the times and adapt to new competition new technology said howard silverblatt senior index analyst at s  p global dow jones indices companies who have increased for so many years and this goes for not just 60 but also 10 years it becomes part of their cultures and they increase even when they cant take cocacola it pays an annual dividend of 184 per share and currently has a dividend yield of 307 while the s  p 500s average dividend yield is 165 the atlantabased beverage giant has been using a twopronged strategy to boost sales by raising prices while still marketing more affordable products to lowerincome customers the company has also rolled out new drink flavors in recent years and various lowsugar products  such as coke zero and diet coke for consumers that have begun to seek out healthier options last year cocacolas revenue rose 11 to 43 billion  driven by 11 growth from product mix and pricing in february citi analyst filippo falorni named coke one of his top buyrated picks saying the company emerged from the pandemic in a much stronger position  meanwhile dover has increased its dividend for 67 years nearly every year since its inception in 1955 the illinoisbased company offers has a dividend yield of 148 over the years it has completed numerous acquisitions into highly consolidated end markets  including in retail refrigeration equipment industrial printing and clean energy as of fridays close dovers stock is up nearly 1 this year mizuho securities reiterated its buy rating on the stock earlier this month after dovers investor day touting the companys opportunities to grow its sales dov has an underappreciated portfolio analyst brett linzey wrote as he set a 165 price target on the stock dov 5y mountain shares of the industrial giant have lost more than 9 this month while this group forms an exclusive club its worth recognizing other longtime dividend payers manufacturing company stanley black  decker and food and beverage giant pepsico have raised their annual dividends for more than 50 years exxonmobil and chevron have hiked their annual dividends for 40 and 36 years respectively companies in the s  p 500 paid out 564 billion in dividends in 2022 a 10 increase from 2021 and a record payout by far according to s  p global disappointed by the price declines in equities investors last year piled into etfs that specialized in paying dividends a trend that is likely to continue this year silverblatt said he expects us cash dividends to again reach a new alltime high in 2023 but that growth will see a definitive slowdown likely at half of its rate last year as far as the cash dividends we will have a record even if companies fail to increase they actually have to pull back in order to not have a record this year said silverblatt based on the current dividend rate with no additional increases or decreases silverblatt expects cash payments for 2023 to increase 39 over 2022 there were 73 dividend increases and 4 decreases last month compared with february 2022s 71 increases and 2 decreases he said