Investors of a certain age might remember Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) as a rock-solid dividend stock. The Blue Oval paid shareholders a dividend every year from its IPO in 1956 until 2006, when then-CEO Alan Mulally cut spending as far as he dared in a last-ditch effort to save the deeply troubled automaker.
That effort was a great success, of course. Ford is once again paying a strong dividend to its shareholders. In fact, as I write this, Ford’s dividend yield is hovering at a very attractive 4.8%.