The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday edition that Atco is one of the best dividend-paying stocks on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The Globe's Norman Rothery, writing in a summary of top Canadian dividend-payers, says that Atco is a sprawling utility-heavy conglomerate with global operations that call Calgary home. It increased its dividend per share in each of the past 30 years and added to the record with a recent 3-per-cent boost. The company offers a 5.3-per-cent dividend yield and a 10.6-per-cent trailing earnings yield. As it happens, Atco owns most of Canadian Utilities, which is also an "all star" dividend payer. Dividend stocks have a special place in the Canadian stock market and are beloved by risk-averse investors. It is easy to see why because, as a group, they have provided outsized returns and avoided the worst of some of the biggest market crashes since the turn of the century. A simple dividend portfolio composed of the largest 200 stocks on the TSX would have gained an average of 11 per cent annually since the end of 1999 to the end of January, 2024, when rebalanced monthly. In comparison, the Canadian market's main benchmark gained an average of 6.6 per cent annually over the same period.