Key Points McDonald's has grown its dividend so prodigiously since 1976 that anyone investing $1,000 then would now be collecting nearly$500,000 in dividends per year. It just announced another 5% dividend increase, which marks 49 years of annual dividend increases. By this time next year, McDonald's will likely hit "Dividend King" status with 50 years of dividend hikes. 10 stocks we like better than McDonald's › In 1976, fast-food giant McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) issued a dividend of $0.025 per sha ...