Dividend Growth Investor Newsletter

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Tuesday, January 18, 2022

Where are the Original Dividend Champions today?

The list of dividend champions was created by David Fish in 2007. It lists companies which have managed to boost dividends for 25 years in a row. David painstakingly maintains and updates the list every month on dripinvesting.org. In latter years, he has also added a list of dividend contenders and challengers ( companies raising dividends for more than 10 and more than 5 years respectively)
I first stumbled upon the list of dividend champions in early 2008, when I was starting my site from scratch. I have utilized the file in my research and investing, and have used it to gain insights into my investing.

In my research, I have also leveraged the historic compilation of the Dividend Champions, on the site of Robert Allan Schwartz. This collection of files has been instrumental in compiling the research on the original dividend champions.

There were 139 dividend champions in December 2007.

Status

Total

Remains on the list

68

Dividend Cut

30

Unchanged Dividend

21

Acquired

19

Split in 2008

1

Grand Total

139


When I first did this analysis I saw that by the end of 2016, 78 of those original dividend champions are still on the list. By late 2021 however, we had 68 companies remaining on the Dividend Champions list.

This means that 71 companies were removed from the dividend champions list.

The most common reason for removal was a dividend cut – 30 companies cut their dividends between 2008 and 2021 for one reason or another.

A further 21 companies kept dividends unchanged, which prompted them to leave the elite dividend champions list.

From the original 139 companies, 19 companies were acquired. This figure does not include the fact that of the 51 companies that cut or kept dividends unchanged, we had companies which were ultimately acquisition targets.

One company was removed due to splitting in two. After reviewing the histories of the separated companies, I think that these should never have been deleted, because shareholders enjoyed annual organic dividend increases.

It looks like none of the original dividend champions failed. I define failure as permanent impairment to capital all the way down to zero. Only quality businesses tend to become dividend champions. As such, even when conditions change, those businesses tend to have staying power.

You can view the full list here:

Company

Symbol

Years

Note

3M Company

MMM

49

Remains

Abbott Laboratories

ABT

35

Remains

ABM Industries Inc.

ABM

41

Remains

AFLAC Inc.

AFL

25

Remains

Air Products & Chem.

APD

25

Remains

Altria Group Inc.

MO

39

Remains

American States Water

AWR

53

Remains

Anheuser-Busch Cos.

BUD

31

Acquired

Archer Daniels Midland

ADM

30

Remains

Associated Banc-Corp.

ASBC

34

Dividend Cut

AT&T Inc.

T

24

Unchanged Dividend

Automatic Data Proc.

ADP

33

Remains

Avery Dennison Corp.

AVY

32

Dividend Cut

Bank of America Corp.

BAC

30

Dividend Cut

Bank of Hawaii Corp.

BOH

27

Unchanged Dividend

BB&T Corp.

BBT

36

Dividend Cut

Becton Dickinson & Co.

BDX

35

Remains

Bemis Company

BMS

24

Acquired

Black Hills Corp.

BKH

37

Remains

C.R. Bard Inc.

BCR

36

Acquired

California Water Service

CWT

40

Remains

Carlisle Companies

CSL

31

Remains

CenturyTel Inc.

CTL

33

Unchanged Dividend

Chemical Financial

CHFC

33

Unchanged Dividend

Chubb Corp.

CB

40

Remains

Cincinnati Financial

CINF

47

Remains

Cintas Corp.

CTAS

24

Remains

Clarcor Inc.

CLC

24

Acquired

Clorox Company

CLX

28

Remains

Coca-Cola Company

KO

45

Remains

Colgate-Palmolive Co.

CL

44

Remains

Comerica Inc.

CMA

38

Dividend Cut

Commerce Bancshares

CBSH

38

Remains

Conn. Water Service

CTWS

38

Acquired

Consolidated Edison

ED

33

Remains

Diebold Inc.

DBD

54

Unchanged Dividend

Dover Corp.

DOV

52

Remains

Eaton Vance Corp.

EV

27

Acquired

Eli Lilly & Company

LLY

41

Unchanged Dividend

Emerson Electric

EMR

50

Remains

Energen Corp.

EGN

25

Dividend Cut

EnergySouth Inc.

ENSI

32

Acquired

ExxonMobil Corp.

XOM

25

Remains

Family Dollar Stores

FDO

31

Acquired

Federal Realty Inv. Trust

FRT

40

Remains

Fifth Third Bancorp

FITB

33

Unchanged Dividend

FirstMerit Corp.

FMER

24

Unchanged Dividend

Florida Public Utilities

FPU

39

Acquired

Fulton Financial Corp.

FULT

31

Dividend Cut

Gannett Company

GCI

39

Dividend Cut

General Electric Co.

GE

32

Unchanged Dividend

Genuine Parts Co.

GPC

51

Remains

Gorman-Rupp Company

GRC

34

Remains

H.B. Fuller Company

FUL

38

Remains

Harleysville National

HNBC

27

Unchanged Dividend

Helmerich & Payne Inc.

HP

28

Dividend Cut

Hershey Company

HSY

32

Unchanged Dividend

Hillenbrand Industries

HB

35

Split in 2008

Hormel Foods Corp.

HRL

42

Remains

Illinois Tool Works

ITW

42

Remains

Integrys Energy Group

TEG

49

Unchanged Dividend

Johnson & Johnson

JNJ

45

Remains

Johnson Controls Inc.

JCI

33

Unchanged Dividend

KeyCorp

KEY

43

Dividend Cut

Kimberly-Clark Corp.

KMB

35

Remains

Lancaster Colony Corp.

LANC

45

Remains

La-Z-Boy Inc.

LZB

25

Dividend Cut

Legg Mason Inc.

LM

27

Acquired

Leggett & Platt Inc.

LEG

37

Remains

Lincoln National Corp.

LNC

25

Dividend Cut

Lowe's Companies

LOW

45

Remains

M&T Bank Corp.

MTB

26

Unchanged Dividend

Marshall & Ilsley Corp.

MI

32

Dividend Cut

Masco Corp.

MAS

49

Dividend Cut

McDonald's Corp.

MCD

31

Remains

McGraw-Hill Companies

MHP

34

Remains

Medtronic Inc.

MDT

30

Remains

MGE Energy Inc.

MGEE

32

Remains

Middlesex Water Co.

MSEX

34

Remains

Mine Safety Appliances

MSA

34

Remains

Myers Industries Inc.

MYE

29

Unchanged Dividend

National Fuel Gas

NFG

37

Remains

National Penn Bancsh.

NPBC

30

Dividend Cut

Nordson Corp.

NDSN

45

Remains

Northwest Natural Gas

NWN

52

Remains

Nucor Corp.

NUE

33

Remains

Old National Bancorp

ONB

26

Unchanged Dividend

Old Republic Int'l

ORI

26

Remains

Otter Tail Corp.

OTTR

32

Unchanged Dividend

Parker-Hannifin Corp.

PH

51

Remains

Pentair Inc.

PNR

31

Remains

People's Bancorp OH

PEBO

42

Dividend Cut

PepsiCo Inc.

PEP

35

Remains

Pfizer Inc.

PFE

41

Dividend Cut

Piedmont Natural Gas

PNY

29

Acquired

Pitney Bowes Inc.

PBI

24

Dividend Cut

PPG Industries Inc.

PPG

35

Remains

Procter & Gamble Co.

PG

51

Remains

Progressive Corp.

PGR

35

Dividend Cut

Questar Corp.

STR

25

Acquired

Regions Financial Corp.

RF

37

Dividend Cut

RLI Corp.

RLI

32

Remains

Rohm & Haas Company

ROH

30

Acquired

RPM International Inc.

RPM

34

Remains

Sherwin-Williams Co.

SHW

29

Remains

Sigma-Aldrich Corp.

SIAL

25

Acquired

SJW Corp.

SJW

40

Remains

SLM Corp.

SLM

26

Dividend Cut

Sonoco Products Co.

SON

25

Remains

Stanley Works

SWK

40

Remains

State Street Corp.

STT

27

Dividend Cut

Stepan Company

SCL

40

Remains

Supervalu Inc.

SVU

32

Dividend Cut

Susquehanna Bancsh.

SUSQ

26

Dividend Cut

Synovus Financial Corp.

SNV

28

Dividend Cut

Sysco Corp.

SYY

37

Remains

Target Corp.

TGT

33

Remains

Teleflex Inc.

TFX

30

Unchanged Dividend

Telephone & Data Sys.

TDS

30

Remains

Tennant Company

TNC

34

Remains

Tootsie Roll Industries

TR

37

Remains

Trustmark Corp.

TRMK

25

Unchanged Dividend

U.S. Bancorp

USB

36

Dividend Cut

UDR Inc.

UDR

31

Dividend Cut

United Bankshares Inc.

UBSI

34

Unchanged Dividend

Universal Corp.

UVV

37

Remains

Valspar Corp.

VAL

27

Acquired

Vectren Corp.

VVC

48

Acquired

VF Corp.

VFC

34

Remains

W.W. Grainger Inc.

GWW

36

Remains

Walgreen Company

WAG

32

Remains

Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

WMT

37

Remains

Washington Federal Inc.

WFSL

25

Dividend Cut

Washington REIT

WRE

37

Dividend Cut

Wesco Financial Corp.

WSC

33

Acquired

Weyco Group Inc.

WEYS

26

Unchanged Dividend

WGL Holdings Inc.

WGL

31

Acquired

Wilmington Trust Corp.

WL

26

Dividend Cut

Wrigley (Wm. Jr.) Co.

WWY

27

Acquired


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