Verizon Communications (VZ) was the first stock I added when I started the Own Every Stock Portfolio a couple years ago, and part of the reason was due to its attractive dividend yield.  Over the last month, Verizon's stock has had a nice run moving from 29 to around 33.50.  Even with the recent run up, Verizon currently has one of the best dividend payouts of the 30 stocks within the Dow Jones Industrial Average.  Based on its current quarterly dividend of 47.5 cents, Verizon pays out $1.90 per share each year, equating to a dividend yield of 5.7%.  This represents a 137.5% increase from its yearly dividend payout  of $.80 per share, 25 years ago, back in 1984. 

While this is an impressive increase in per share dividends, much of this came from the 14 consecutive dividend increases from 1985 to 1998.  From 1999 to 2006, Verizon only had one dividend increase with a 5.19% hike in 2005.  However, in recent years it appears that Verizon has started to implement yearly dividend increases again with 2010 likely being the 4th year in a row of increasing dividends (based on the announced dividend increase in September of this year).  Here is a chart summarizing Verizon's dividend payout of the past 25 years:

Year	Dividends Paid	Year over Year Increase
1984	$0.80
1985	$0.85	6.25%
1986	$0.90	5.88%
1987	$0.96	6.67%
1988	$1.02	6.25%
1989	$1.10	7.84%
1990	$1.18	7.27%
1991	$1.26	6.78%
1992	$1.30	3.17%
1993	$1.34	3.08%
1994	$1.38	2.99%
1995	$1.40	1.45%
1996	$1.44	2.86%
1997	$1.51	4.86%
1998	$1.54	1.99%
1999	$1.54	0.00%
2000	$1.54	0.00%
2001	$1.54	0.00%
2002	$1.54	0.00%
2003	$1.54	0.00%
2004	$1.54	0.00%
2005	$1.62	5.19%
2006	$1.62	0.00%
2007	$1.67	3.09%
2008	$1.78	6.59%
2009	$1.87	5.06%

Of course, dividends aren't the only criteria when selecting stocks, but over time they do add substantially to a portfolio's overall returns, especially when the dividends are reinvested.  As part of my upcoming posts, I plan to go through my list of stocks in the portfolio and have an entry pertaining to each stock.  Some entries will be about dividends, while other entries will look at fundamental or technical analysis.  Basically it is a good way for me to revisit the stocks in the Own Every Stock Portfolio and hopefully I can provide a little useful information to others along the way.  As is always the case, I am not making any stock recommendations but just providing my opinion (which is worth exactly what you paid for it) and/or historical data on different stocks within my overall portfolio.  Thanks for stopping by, hope you find time to stop by again.