Dividend growth is seen carrying more weight than yield

Income-oriented stock investors would be better off focusing on dividend growth than on relatively high payouts, in Citigroup Inc.’s view. The firm’s global strategists recommended a “dividend momentum strategy,” favoring U.S. stocks, in a report Tuesday. Citigroup’s call is in keeping with a pattern during the past three years, as displayed in the chart. The Morningstar U.S. Dividend Growth Index had a 51% total return, including payouts, from the

beginning of 2017 through Tuesday. Another Morningstar index that tracks higher-yielding U.S. shares only returned 28% in the same period.