Wednesday, February 6, 2019

Dividend Aristocrats for 2019 Revealed

The S&P Dividend Aristocrats index tracks companies in the S&P 500 that have increased dividends every year for at least 25 years in a row. The index is equally weighted, and rebalanced every quarter.

To qualify for membership in the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats index, a stock must satisfy the following criteria:

1. Be a member of the S&P 500
2. Have increased dividends every year for at least 25 consecutive years
3. Meet minimum float-adjusted market capitalization and liquidity requirements defined in the index inclusion and index exclusion rules below.

The group of companies in the Dividend Aristocrats index tend to generate reliable dividend income, and provide the potential for strong total returns. The list is well diversified across sectors.

There are 57 companies in the Dividend Aristocrats index for 2019. There were no companies removed from the list in 2018.

The four new additions include Chubb Limited (CB), Caterpillar (CAT), People's United Financial (PBCT) and United Technologies (UTX).

The 2019 Dividend Aristocrats are listed below:


Symbol
Name
Sector
Years of Annual Dividend Increases
10 year Dividend Growth
Dividend Yield
MMM
3M Co
Industrials
60
10.52%
2.72%
ABT
Abbott Laboratories**
Health Care
46
11.89%
1.77%
ABBV
AbbVie Inc.
Health Care
46
13.18%
5.45%
AFL
AFLAC Inc
Financials
36
8.04%
2.18%
APD
Air Products & Chemicals Inc
Materials
37
9.60%
2.82%
ADM
Archer-Daniels-Midland Co
Consumer Staples
43
9.93%
2.98%
T
AT&T Inc
Communication Services
35
2.26%
6.89%
ADP
Automatic Data Processing
Information Technology
44
10.05%
2.26%
BDX
Becton Dickinson & Co
Health Care
47
10.23%
1.25%
BF.B
Brown-Forman Corp B
Consumer Staples
35
8.10%
1.41%
CAH
Cardinal Health Inc
Health Care
23
17.52%
3.81%
CAT
Caterpillar Inc
Industrials
25
7.71%
2.63%
CVX
PBCT
Energy
32
5.88%
3.98%
CB
Chubb Ltd
Financials
25
10.20%
2.19%
CINF
Cincinnati Financial Corp
Financials
58
3.20%
2.61%
CTAS
Cintas Corp
Industrials
36
16.12%
1.09%
CLX
Clorox Co
Consumer Staples
41
8.02%
2.59%
KO
Coca-Cola Co
Consumer Staples
56
7.46%
3.17%
CL
Colgate-Palmolive Co
Consumer Staples
55
7.85%
2.58%
ED
Consolidated Edison Inc
Utilities
45
2.03%
3.81%
DOV
Dover Corp
Industrials
63
9.72%
2.19%
ECL
Ecolab Inc
Materials
27
12.17%
1.16%
EMR
Emerson Electric Co
Industrials
62
4.69%
2.90%
XOM
Exxon Mobil Corp
Energy
36
7.62%
4.38%
FRT
Federal Realty Invt Trust
Real Estate
51
4.95%
3.08%
BEN
Franklin Resources Inc
Financials
39
13.18%
3.46%
GD
General Dynamics
Industrials
27
10.48%
2.17%
GPC
Genuine Parts Co
Consumer Discretionary
62
6.33%
2.89%
GWW
Grainger W.W. Inc
Industrials
47
13.21%
1.84%
HRL
Hormel Foods Corp
Consumer Staples
53
15.02%
1.98%
ITW
Illinois Tool Works Inc
Industrials
44
11.25%
2.91%
JNJ
Johnson & Johnson
Health Care
56
7.03%
2.71%
KMB
Kimberly-Clark
Consumer Staples
47
6.20%
3.70%
LEG
Leggett & Platt
Consumer Discretionary
47
4.00%
3.71%
LIN
Linde plc
Materials
25
8.20%
2.02%
LOW
Lowe's Cos Inc
Consumer Discretionary
56
18.36%
2.00%
MKC
McCormick & Co
Consumer Staples
33
8.98%
1.84%
MCD
McDonald's Corp
Consumer Discretionary
43
9.94%
2.60%
MDT
Medtronic plc
Health Care
41
11.88%
2.26%
NUE
Nucor Corp
Materials
46
1.50%
2.61%
PNR
Pentair PLC
Industrials
43
4.44%
1.75%
PBCT
People's United Financial
Financials
26
1.80%
4.27%
PEP
PepsiCo Inc
Consumer Staples
46
8.03%
3.28%
PPG
PPG Industries Inc
Materials
47
5.94%
1.82%
PG
Procter & Gamble
Consumer Staples
62
6.25%
2.97%
ROP
Roper Technologies, Inc
Industrials
26
18.99%
0.65%
SPGI
S&P Global
Financials
45
8.56%
1.19%
SHW
Sherwin-Williams Co
Materials
40
9.41%
0.82%
AOS
Smith A.O. Corp
Industrials
25
19.94%
1.84%
SWK
Stanley Black & Decker
Industrials
51
7.43%
2.09%
SYY
Sysco Corp
Consumer Staples
49
5.05%
2.44%
TROW
T Rowe Price Group Inc
Financials
32
11.30%
3.00%
TGT
Target Corp
Consumer Discretionary
51
15.43%
3.51%
UTX
United Technologies
Industrials
25
7.74%
2.47%
VFC
VF Corp
Consumer Discretionary
46
12.49%
2.40%
WBA
Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc
Consumer Staples
43
15.01%
2.44%
WMT
Wal-Mart
Consumer Staples
45
8.30%
2.19%


The index has generated strong total returns over time past decade. I wanted to note that in 2008, the Dividend Aristocrats index declined by 21.88%. The S&P 500 however declined by 37%. The dividend aristocrats index tends to shine during bear markets and low return environments. However, it also pulls its weight when we are in a bull market too. It is the best of both worlds really.



I first stumbled upon the Dividend Aristocrats index in late 2007, and instantly understood why dividend growth investing is such a powerful wealth generating tool. If someone had invested in the Dividend Aristocrats index after reading my review of the list at the beginning of 2008, they would have tripled their money. An investment in the dividend aristocrats a decade ago, would have resulted in a total return of 350%. In other words, investing $100 in the Dividend Aristocrats list in February 2019 would have turned into $454. The same amount investing in S&P 500 would have turned into $395.



As I gained more experience however, I have gravitated more towards the Dividend Champions list, which was created by Dave Fish. The Dividend Champions list is more complete, as it doesn’t exclude companies due to low liquidity, or due to market capitalization below a certain threshold. In addition, I find that historically, the list of Dividend Champions has followed a more consistent approach than the list of Dividend Aristocrats. Sadly, Dave passed away last year. Luckily, another person has agreed to update it for the time being. You can view the 2019 Dividend Champions List here.

When I review the list of historical changes in the Dividend Aristocrats index, I see some inconsistencies in the way portfolio components are added or removed.

For example, the Dividend Aristocrats index removed Altria in 2007, after it spun-off Kraft Foods and as a result its dividend decreased. It could be argued that the dividend income for the investor was not decreased, because they kept getting a dividend from Altria as well as dividends from Kraft Foods.

The S&P committee seems to have rectified this issue, and have kept both Abbott and Abbvie after legacy Abbott Laboratories split in two companies in early 2013.

Ironically, Dave Fish had Altria listed as a Dividend Champion. However, he didn’t have Abbott nor Abbvie listed as a dividend champion ( they are listed as Dividend Aristocrats however).

Last year, I found out that Cardinal Health (CAH) has only been able to grow dividends for 23 years in a row. This is why it is not on the dividend champions list. The dividend aristocrats list however has a 31 year streak of annual dividend increases listed.

This is why you need to perform your own checks as an investor.

In addition, I wanted to let you know that I would not purchase all companies from either lists blindly. I run my entry criteria screen to come up with a list of companies for further research. Before investing in any individual stock, I research it enough to gain some understanding of the business and its trends in fundamentals.

Relevant Articles:

Dividend Champions, Contenders & Challengers: The most complete list of US dividend growth stocks available
Dividend Aristocrats List for 2017
Dividend Aristocrats for Dividend Growth and Total Returns
Where are the original Dividend Aristocrats now?
Historical changes of the S&P Dividend Aristocrats
Why do I like the Dividend Aristocrats?
Dividend Aristocrats List for 2016

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