If You Invest $1,200 a year in Kroger Stock, Here's the Dividend Income It Could Generate Over 20 Years
Key Points
The right dividend stocks can perform like growth stocks when handled the proper way.
Grocery store chain’s Kroger’s sales growth may be slow, but its dividend growth is surprisingly quick.
Slow and steady really does win the race.
- Motley Fool Issues Rare "Total Conviction" Buy Alert ›
As the old adage goes, past performance is no guarantee of future results. If the reasons for that past performance are still in place, however, that past performance is a decent indication of what the future likely holds.
What sort of dividend income might a position in grocery store chain Kroger (NYSE: KR) generate over the course of two decades if you buy $100 worth of this dividend-paying ticker every month during that 20-year stretch? Assuming the past 10 years are an indication of what awaits, we can come up with a pretty decent idea.
Missed AI’s "Act 1"? Act 2 Could Be 15x Bigger. Most investors think they missed the AI boat because they didn't buy Nvidia in 2005. But according to our analysts, we’re only at the end of "Act 1"—the R&D phase. "Act 2" is the global rollout. Continue »
Image source: Getty Images.
Here's what we know: Since late 2016, Kroger's per-share quarterly dividend has improved from $0.12 per share to $0.39, while the stock's price has advanced from around $33 to its current price of $68.
With that, you have enough information to determine the number. This ever-growing position would have produced approximately $1,700 in dividends during this 10-year span, and it would be worth nearly $17,700 at the end of it. If you'd reinvested the dividends, however, you would have received roughly $1,850 in dividend income, and the position would be worth nearly $20,000.
This disparity widens as time goes on. Using the same inputs as above but adding another 10 years, without reinvesting, your position would be worth just over $57,000, and you would have only collected around $13,500 in dividends. With dividend reinvestment, though, you'd be sitting on a little over $81,000 worth of Kroger stock in 20 years' time, nearly $17,000 of which would have come from dividends.
Calculations by author. Chart by author.
Some investors are surprised at the difference that dividend reinvestment can make. They're even more surprised at the impact time can have. That's the power of compounding. Even seemingly small steps make a big difference when you start earning money on your past gains. The key is being consistent.
Should you buy stock in Kroger right now?
Before you buy stock in Kroger, consider this:
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Kroger wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $341,157!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,037,753!*
Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 834% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 207% for the S&P 500. Don't miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor, and join an investing community built by individual investors for individual investors.
See the 10 stocks »
*Stock Advisor returns as of November 11, 2026.
James Brumley has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Kroger. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Recommended Articles
