High-quality dividend growth stocks tend to pay rising dividends year-after-year. This means a raise for investors every year. But the investor needs to do almost nothing to get their annual raise.

The only “work” required is to hold your dividend growth stocks so long as they continue to grow your income. As a result, the following 3 quality dividend growth stocks are ideal choices for long-term dividend compounding.

Aflac Inc. (AFL)

Aflac Inc., founded in 1955, is the world’s largest underwriter of supplemental cancer insurance. The diversified insurance corporation also provides accident, short-term disability, critical illness, dental, vision, and life insurance.

Roughly 70% of the company’s pretax earnings are from Japan, with 30% coming from the U.S. The company generated $5.4 billion in profit in 2024.

On April 30th, 2025, Aflac reported first quarter results for the period ending March 31st, 2025. For the quarter, revenue declined 37% to $3.4 billion, which was $874 million below estimates. For the quarter, net earnings equaled $29 million, or $0.05 per share, compared to net earnings of $1.9 billion, or $3.25 per share, in the prior year.

However, this includes investment losses of $963 million, which are excluded from adjusted earnings. On an adjusted basis, earnings-per-share equaled $1.66, matching the prior year’s result.

The steep decline in revenue was primarily due to investment losses compared to investment gains in the prior year. The weakening yen/dollar exchange rate reduced earnings-per-share by $0.01. In U.S. dollars, Aflac Japan’s quarterly net earned premiums decreased 7.4% to $1.7 billion while Aflac U.S. net earned premiums grew 1.8% to $1.5 billion. Adjusted book value grew 3.5% to $51.98 per share.

AFL has increased its dividend for 43 consecutive years.

Stryker Corp. (SYK)

Stryker is a global leader in the medical device sector. The company’s product lines include surgical equipment, neurovascular products and orthopedic implants.

On May 1st, 2025, Stryker reported first quarter earnings results for the period ending March 31st, 2025. For the quarter, revenue grew 11.9% to $5.9 billion, which was $210 million better than expected.

Adjusted earnings-per-share of $2.84 compared favorably to $2.50 in the prior year and was $0.11 above estimates. Organic revenue was higher by 10.1% for the quarter. For the period, volume grew 9.4% and higher prices added 0.7% to results.

MedSurg and Neurotechnology had sales of $3.5 billion, which represented 10.7% organic growth, while Orthopaedics and Spine was higher by 9.3% to $2.4 billion.

Stryker provided updated guidance for 2025 as well. The company now expects organic revenue growth in a range of 8.5% to 9.5% for the year, up from 8% to 9% previously. Adjusted earnings-per-share are forecasted to be in a range of $13.20 to $13.45. At the midpoint, this would represent growth of approximately 9.4% from 2024.

Future growth will be driven in part, by a major recent acquisition. On January 6th, 2025, Stryker announced that it had agreed to buy Inari Medical, Inc. (NARI), which manufacturers neurovascular medical devices, for $4.9 billion in cash.

SYK has increased its dividend for 31 consecutive years.

Parker-Hannifin Corp. (PH)

Parker-Hannifin is a diversified industrial manufacturer specializing in motion and control technologies. The company generates annual revenues of $20 billion.

In early May, Parker-Hannifin reported (5/1/25) results for the third quarter of 2025. Organic sales grew 1% over the prior year’s quarter, as 12% growth in aerospace was almost offset by declines in North American Business and International Business.

Adjusted earnings-per-share grew 7%, from $6.49 to $6.94, thanks to strong sales and a wider profit margin in all segments. Parker-Hannifin exceeded the analysts’ consensus by $0.22. Notably, Parker-Hannifin has exceeded the analysts’ EPS estimates for 39 consecutive quarters.

Parker-Hannifin has more than tripled its earnings-per-share over the last nine years. The growth trajectory of the company slowed in 2020 due to the global recession caused by the coronavirus. However, Parker-Hannifin has returned to high growth mode in the last four years.

Parker-Hannifin’s growth will come in part from acquisitions. The $4.3 billion CLARCOR transaction and the three aforementioned acquisitions are examples of this. Parker Hannifin integrates the new products in its system while it achieves significant synergies.

Parker-Hannifin has a number of competitive advantages, including its scale, global distribution network, and technical experience. Parker-Hannifin manufactures components that are relatively obscure yet critical to the operations of heavy machinery, factory equipment, aircrafts, and other large industrial devices.

Parker-Hannifin has increased the dividend for 69 consecutive years.

Disclosure: No positions in any stocks mentioned

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Bob Ciura has worked at Sure Dividend since October 2016. He oversees all content for Sure Dividend and its partner sites. Bob received a Bachelor’s degree in Finance from DePaul.