Want a good dividend stock to own? Don't focus just on the yield itself. When it comes to long-term dividend income, it's important to consider businesses that are growing and that have the potential to increase their payouts, allowing your dividend income to rise over the years.

Three companies that have been generously increasing their dividend payments over the past five years include Amgen (NASDAQ: AMGN), Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), and Mondelez International (NASDAQ: MDLZ). Here's why they could be ideal stocks for investors to buy and hold.

Drugmaker Amgen pays a dividend that yields 3.7% right now. Not only is that well above the S 500 average of 1.5%, but the company has also been a dependable dividend growth stock to own. Today, it pays a quarterly dividend of $2.13, which is 61% higher than what it was paying just five years earlier ($1.32). 

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Source Fool.com