With the stock market powering ever higher, dividend yields continue to fall on most stocks. This will lead many investors to simply search for high yielding stocks and buy those. But this could be a major mistake.

Most times when a stock’s dividend yield is high, it’s high because the stock and the dividend payments are risky. Remember, dividends can be cut at any time by a company. So what is the solution?

What dividend investors should really be looking for is strong companies with a long history of never cutting their dividends. This along with a relatively high dividend yield can set you up for retirement.

I’ve put together a list of some of my favorite companies who have shown they will not cut their dividends and in fact, usually increase them. See the list below:

Company

Ticker

Years Increasing Dividend

Industry

Yield %

AT&T

(T)

33

Telecommunications

5.0

Cardinal Health

(CAH)

21

Pharmaceutical – Distribution

2.9

Compass Minerals

(CMP)

14

Mining

4.2

Duke Energy

(DUK)

13

Utility – Electric/Gas

4.2

Enbridge

(ENB)

22

Oil & Gas

4.8

ExxonMobil

(XOM)

35

Oil & Gas

3.6

General Mills

(GIS)

14

Food Processing

3.2

GlaxoSmithKline

(GSK)

—

Pharmaceutical – Manufacturing

5.9

Microsoft

(MSFT)

16

Technology – Software

1.9

Realty Income

(O)

24

REIT – Retail Stores

4.5

Southern Co

(SO)

17

Utility – Electric

4.7

Target

(TGT)

50

Retail

3.7

Universal Corp

(UVV)

47

Tobacco

4.1

Verizon

(VZ)

13

Telecommunications

4.4

Welltower

(HCN)

14

REIT – Healthcare

5.5

Average

 

22

 

4.2%