Since the beginning of the 20th century, dividend stocks have accounted for 75% of the total returns in the U.S. stock market. Dividend growth stocks, which are companies that regularly increase their cash payouts to shareholders annually, have significantly outperformed the majority of other asset classes over this 124-year span.The primary reason for this is the power of compounding. By owning a dividend growth stock and reinvesting the dividends each quarter, your investment can experience exponential gr ...