If you are an individual investor, you probably have heard the term “Dividend King” and probably invest in some of 54 companies that currently hold the title. Dividend Kings are stocks that have increased their dividends for at least 50 consecutive years.

It is a rare achievement that also demonstrates resiliency through nearly every economic and market challenge imaginable. Dividend Kings have gone through recessions and market corrections, inflation and shifting consumer sentiment and still have managed to raise their dividends year after year, which is what makes them so attractive to retail shareholders.

These Dividend Kings are focused on long-term growth and while they might lack the flash of growth and tech stocks and AI companies, most make up for their lack of buzz with a big helping of stability. Many of the 54 Dividend Kings on the list have been around since the 1800s and nearly 80% of the group is concentrated in more stable sectors like consumer staples, industrials, healthcare and utilities. No Dividend Kings belong to the information technology or communications sectors.

Unlike Dividend Aristocrats, which must be part of the S&P 500 and increased their dividends for at least 25 years, Dividend Kings have no such requirements beyond their long-lasting dividend growth streaks. While Dividend Kings include household names like Walmart (Tii:WMT), Archer Daniels Midland (Tii:ADM), Kimberly Clark (Tii:KMB), PepsiCo (Tii:PEP) and Target (Tii:TGT), many are smaller companies, which proves that stability has little to do with size.

Dividend Kings have delivered similar total returns to the S&P 500, but with lower volatility. The S&P 500 includes many fast-growing tech stocks like Amazon (Tii:AMZN), Meta (Tii:META) and Alphabet (Tii:GOOG). Depending on your appetite for risk, the security and steady dividend returns of the Dividend Kings might be good or bad.

Shareholder confidence is certainly important, but other factors affect how long shareholders hold stock and how connected they feel to the companies they invest in. Shareholders increasingly want more from the companies they invest in. Shareholder loyalty is also important. And even the Dividend Kings can use help boosting shareholder loyalty.

One way public companies are using to build shareholder confidence is through shareholder loyalty and stock perk programs. Long used by Japanese companies to reward shareholders, stock perks are becoming common in the U.S., and for good reason. The Harris Poll conducted a national survey of more than 2,000 consumers, commissioned by shareholder loyalty leader TiiCKER, and found that shareholder perks would encourage 76% of retail investors to vote their proxy and 73% to be more confident in the company or brand’s management team.

The poll also found that 78% of retail investors would be more likely to buy stock in a company that offers shareholder perks or discounts and that shareholder perks encourage stock purchases and long holds. According to the poll, 40% of retail investors say qualifying for a shareholder perk would make them hold shares for a longer period.

In short, shareholder perks provide and extra layer of value, differentiating public companies that offer them and building shareholder confidence and shareholder loyalty. Shareholder rewards help deepen relationships between retail shareholders and the companies they invest in. While your public company might or might not be a Dividend King, why not wear a crown of your own for providing stock perks that create strong bonds with individual investors?

A dividend streak of 50 years is certainly impressive and Dividend Kings will continue to be watched carefully by retail shareholders. If you are looking ahead, a few stocks are expected to join the list of Dividend Kings this year, including property and casualty insurer RLI Corp. (Tii:RLI) and and MGE Energy (Tii:MGEE), a regulated electric and gas utility in Wisconsin.

Whether or not your public company is a Dividend King or not, TiiCKER can help build shareholder loyalty and confidence through a stock perk program on the platform. Reach out to TiiCKER today to learn how.