After years of a low interest rate environment, many investors have turned to equities not only for the growth potential but also for solid and dependable dividends that help to provide an income stream. What this equates to is total return, which is one of the most powerful investment strategies going.

We like to remind our readers about the impact total return has on portfolios because it is one of the best ways to help improve the chances for overall investing success. Again, total return is the combined increase in a stock’s value plus dividends. For instance, if you buy a stock at $20 that pays a 3% dividend, and it goes up to $22 in a year, your total return is 13%. That is, 10% for the increase in stock price and 3% for the dividends paid.

Four top companies are expected to raise their dividends this week, so we screened our 24/7 Wall St. research universe and found that all their stocks are rated Buy at some of the top firms on Wall Street. While it is always possible that not all these companies do raise their dividends, top analysts expect them to, and generally the data is based on past increases in the firm’s dividend payouts.

It is also important to remember that no single analyst report should be used as a sole basis for any buying or selling decision.

Accenture

This is a great way for investors to play information technology segment. Accenture PLC (NYSE: ACN) provides consulting, technology and outsourcing services worldwide.

The company’s Communications, Media & Technology segment provides professional services for clients to accelerate and deliver digital transformation, develop industry-specific solutions and enhance efficiencies and business results for communications, media, high-tech, software and platform companies.

The Financial Services segment offers services for profitability pressures, industry consolidation, regulatory changes and the need to adapt continually to new digital technologies for banking, capital market and insurance industries.

Its Health & Public Service segment provides consulting services and digital solutions to help clients deliver social, economic, and health outcomes for health care payers and providers, government departments and agencies, public service organizations, educational institutions and nonprofit organizations.

Shareholders currently receive a 1.06% dividend. The company is expected to raise the dividend from $0.88 per share to $0.95.

BofA Securities has a $379 target price on Accenture stock. The Wall Street consensus target is just $338.06, and the shares closed trading on Monday at $332.29.

General Mills Inc. (NYSE: GIS) manufactures and markets branded consumer foods worldwide. The company offers ready-to-eat cereals, refrigerated yogurt, soup, meal kits, refrigerated and frozen dough products, dessert and baking mixes, bakery flour, frozen pizza and pizza snacks, snack bars, fruit and salty snacks, ice cream, nutrition bars, wellness beverages, and savory and grain snacks, as well as various organic products, including frozen and shelf-stable vegetables.

The company also supplies branded and unbranded food products to the North American foodservice and commercial baking industries, and it manufactures and markets pet food products, including dog and cat food.

The company markets its products under the Annie’s, Betty Crocker, Bisquick, Blue Buffalo, Blue Basics, Blue Freedom, Bugles, Cascadian Farm, Cheerios, Chex, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Cocoa Puffs, Cookie Crisp, Fiber One, Food Should Taste Good, Fruit by the Foot, Fruit Gushers, Fruit Roll-Ups, Gardetto’s, Go-Gurt, Gold Medal, Golden Grahams, Häagen-Dazs, Helpers, Jus-Rol, Kitano, Kix, Lärabar, Latina, Lucky Charms, Muir Glen, Nature Valley, Oatmeal Crisp, Old El Paso, Oui, Pillsbury, Progresso, Raisin Nut Bran, Total, Totino’s, Trix, Wanchai Ferry, Wheaties, Wilderness, Yoki and Yoplait trademarks.

Shareholders are currently paid a 3.47% dividend. It is expected the company will raise the dividend to $0.53 per share from $0.51.

The Deutsche Bank price target is $65, and the consensus target is $63. The final General Mills stock trade on Monday was reported at $58.75 a share.

Lockheed Martin

This is one of the top aerospace and defense stocks to buy, and many on Wall Street are expecting a very solid continuation of U.S. and foreign defense spending. Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE: LMT) researches, designs, develops, manufactures, integrates, operates and sustains advanced technology systems, products and services. It also provides a wide range of defense electronics products and IT services.

Being the Pentagon’s prime contractor, Lockheed Martin offers a diverse portfolio of global aerospace, defense, security and advanced technologies. Its leveraged presence in the Army, Air Force, Navy and IT programs guarantees a steady inflow of follow-on orders, not only from the U.S. government but also from many foreign allies of the nation.

Shareholders are currently paid a 3.07% dividend. It is expected the company will raise the dividend to $2.80 per share from $2.60.

The $458 Morgan Stanley price target compares with the $429.47 consensus target and Monday’s $338.46 closing share price for Lockheed Martin stock.

Shares of this top tech company have been on fire but still offer a stellar entry point. Progress Software Corp. (NASDAQ: PRGS) develops business applications. The company operates through three segments.

Its OpenEdge segment offers Progress OpenEdge, development software that builds multi-language applications for secure deployment across various platforms and devices, as well as the cloud. Progress Corticon is a business rules management system that enables applications with decision automation and change process, and decision-related insight capabilities, and Progress Kinvey is a platform for building enterprise applications. MOVEit provides secure collaboration and automated file transfers of critical business information, while WhatsUp Gold is a network monitoring solution.

The Data Connectivity and Integration segment provides Progress DataDirect Connect, which offers data connectivity using industry-standard interfaces to connect applications running on various platforms. It also offers, Progress DataDirect Hybrid Data Pipeline, a data access service that provides cloud and on-premises data sources for hybrid cloud applications, such as customer resource management, data management platforms or hosted analytics.

The Application Development and Deployment segment offers Developer Tools, a set of components for user interface development, and Sitefinity, a web content management and customer analytics platform. The company also provides project management, implementation, custom development, programming and other services, as well as services to web-enable applications, and training services. It sells its products to end users, independent software vendors, original equipment manufacturers and system integrators.

Shareholders currently receive a 1.55% dividend. It is expected the company will raise the dividend to $0.53 per share from $0.51.

Oppenheimer’s $54 price target for Progress Software stock is lower than the $55.17 consensus target. The shares closed at $45.03 on Monday.

These four top stocks are all rated Buy across Wall Street, and the companies are expected to lift the dividends they pay to shareholders. Not only is increasing dividends and returning capital to investors important, but it also shows that the company is doing well and has the earnings and cash flow strength to increase the payouts.

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