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Benjamin Graham is widely considered to be the "father of value investing".

One of the core principles of Graham’s investment philosophy is the Graham Number. Investors can apply the Graham Number to find undervalued dividend growth stocks, such as the Dividend Champions.

The following 3 dividend growth stocks have increased their dividends for over 25 years, and appear to be undervalued right now utilizing the Graham Number valuation method.

The York Water Company (YORW)

The York Water Company is a special one in the industry since it is the oldest investor-owned water utility in the United States, having functioned continuously since 1816.

York Water has a unique record of over 200 years of uninterrupted dividend payments to shareholders.

It operates entirely within its franchised territory, which covers 57 municipalities within York, Adams, and Franklin Counties, Pennsylvania, with an estimated population of 212,000.

The York Water sees an average daily consumption of 22.4 million gallons, generating around $71 million in annual revenues.

On March 4th, 2025, The York Water Company reported its Q4 and full-year results. Quarterly revenues were $18.9 million, up 4.3% year-over-year, driven by the distribution system improvement charge (DSIC), which allows York Water to add a charge to customers’ water bills for qualifying infrastructure replacement costs without filing for a rate change.

Revenues also benefited from customer growth, with the average number of water customers rising by 999, from 71,416 to 72,415 during the year, and wastewater customers increasing by 522, from 5,999 to 6,521, mainly due to acquisitions.

YORW has increased its dividend for 28 consecutive years and shares currently yield 2.6%.

Eastern Bankshares (EBC)

Eastern Bankshares Inc. provides commercial banking products and services primarily to retail, commercial and small business customers. It provides banking, trust, and investment services, as well as insurance services, through its full service bank branches and insurance offices.

As of March 31, 2025, Eastern Bankshares had total consolidated assets of $25.0 billion, total gross loans of $18.2 billion, and total deposits of $20.8 billion. The company was founded in 1818 and has 1,744 employees.

On April 24th, 2025, Eastern Bankshares announced its first-quarter 2025 results for the period ending March 31st, 2025. For the quarter, the company reported a net loss of $217.7 million, which contrasts sharply with net income of $60.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2024.

Reported earnings per diluted share for the same periods were $(1.08) and $0.30, respectively, marking a significant decline. Despite this GAAP loss, operating net income remained stable at $67.5 million.

Net interest income, before the provision for credit losses, increased by $9.7 million, or 5%, to $188.9 million for the first quarter, compared to $179.2 million for the fourth quarter of 2024.

EBC has increased its dividend for 26 consecutive years and the stock currently yields 3.5%.

Matthews International (MATW)

Matthews International Corporation provides brand solutions, memorialization products and industrial technologies on a global scale. The company’s three business segments are diversified.

The SGK Brand Solutions provides brand development services, printing equipment, creative design services, and embossing tools to the consumer-packaged goods and packaging industries.

The Memorialization segment sells memorialization products, caskets, and cremation equipment to funeral home industries.

The Industrial technologies segment is smaller than the other two businesses and designs, manufactures and distributes marking, coding and industrial automation technologies and solutions.

Matthews International reported first quarter FY 2025 results on February 6th, 2025. The company reported sales of $402 million, an 11% decline compared to the same prior year period. The decrease was the result of a 28% sales decline in its Industrial Technologies segment.

Adjusted earnings were $0.14 per share, a 62% decrease from $0.37 a year ago. The company’s net debt leverage ratio rose from 3.6 one year ago to 3.9.

Matthews continues to expect $205 million to $215 million of adjusted EBITDA for fiscal 2025.

MATW has increased its dividend for 32 years and the stock currently yields 5.2%.

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