When investors are optimistic, they may be willing to pay a premium price for a stock in the hopes that the company's future earnings grow rapidly. But when investors are pessimistic, or there's an economic downturn, they may prefer to go with companies that are valued based on where they are today instead of their potential.

The same is true for stocks. Consider that global icon Apple Inc. (ticker: AAPL) yields a mere 0.4%, despite having roughly $100 billion in net income and one of the most entrenched brands in the planet. That's because it's easy to maintain a nominal dividend, but much harder to drive a huge yield – even for titans like Apple.

Buying top dividend stocks and holding them long-term can be a great approach to building your investment portfolio. It boils down to holding shares of companies that have historically provided reliable dividends (as well as dividend growth) in all sorts of market environments.

Five Fool.co.uk contract writers speculate about where stock pickers might see the most significant dividend growth this year. The post Which sectors’ stocks are most likely to increase their dividends in 2025?