Dividend Aristocrats List

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 a record 67 companies in the Dividend Aristocrats index for 2023.

For 2023, there were several changes. The index added:

- C.H. Robinson Worldwide (CHRW)

- J.M. Smucker (SJM)

- Nordson Corp (NDSN)

The index removed no companies.

One company left the index in 2022 - People's United Financial (PBCT), because it was acquired by M&T Bank.

Since the inception of the index in 1989, the number of holdings has fluctuated from 26 to 67 holdings. This year marks the highest number of dividend aristocrats ever, on record. It is still not even half the number of Dividend Champions however.


The 2023 Dividend Aristocrats are listed below:

Symbol	Name	Sector	Years of Annual Dividend Increases	10 year Dividend   Growth	Dividend Yield
ABBV	AbbVie Inc.	Health Care	50	13.90%	3.66%
ABT	Abbott Laboratories	Health Care	50	6.90%	1.86%
ADM	Archer-Daniels-Midland Co	Consumer Staples	47	8.62%	1.72%
ADP	Automatic Data Processing	Information Technology	47	11.66%	2.09%
AFL	AFLAC Inc	Financials	41	9.09%	2.34%
ALB	Albemarle Corp.	Materials	28	7.35%	0.73%
AMCR	Amcor	Materials	27	#N/A	4.08%
AOS	Smith A.O. Corp	Industrials	29	20.27%	2.10%
APD	Air Products & Chemicals Inc	Materials	40	9.79%	2.10%
ATO	Atmos Energy	Utilities	39	7.22%	2.64%
BDX	Becton Dickinson & Co	Health Care	51	6.67%	1.43%
BEN	Franklin Resources Inc	Financials	43	12.21%	4.55%
BF.B	Brown-Forman Corp B	Consumer Staples	38	7.00%	#N/A
BRO	Brown & Brown	Financials	29	9.37%	0.81%
CAH	Cardinal Health Inc	Health Care	26	8.11%	2.58%
CAT	Caterpillar Inc	Industrials	29	8.95%	2.00%
CB	Chubb Ltd	Financials	29	5.44%	1.50%
CHD	Church & Dwight	Consumer Staples	26	8.14%	1.30%
CHRW	C.H. Robinson Worldwide	Industrials	25	5.08%	2.66%
CINF	Cincinnati Financial Corp	Financials	62	5.27%	2.70%
CL	Colgate-Palmolive Co	Consumer Staples	59	4.31%	2.39%
CLX	Clorox Co	Consumer Staples	45	6.56%	3.36%
CTAS	Cintas Corp	Industrials	40	20.70%	1.02%
CVX	Chevron Corp	Energy	35	4.93%	3.16%
DOV	Dover Corp	Industrials	67	6.11%	1.49%
ECL	Ecolab Inc	Materials	31	9.81%	1.46%
ED	Consolidated Edison Inc	Utilities	48	2.70%	3.32%
EMR	Emerson Electric Co	Industrials	66	2.52%	2.17%
ESS	Essex Property Trust	Real Estate	28	7.19%	4.15%
EXPD	Expeditors International	Industrials	28	9.12%	1.29%
FRT	Federal Realty Invt Trust	Real Estate	55	4.36%	4.28%
GD	General Dynamics	Industrials	31	9.53%	2.03%
GPC	Genuine Parts Co	Consumer Discretionary	66	6.11%	2.06%
GWW	Grainger W.W. Inc	Industrials	51	8.28%	1.24%
HRL	Hormel Foods Corp	Consumer Staples	57	13.24%	2.41%
IBM	Intl Business Machines	Information Technology	27	7.16%	4.68%
ITW	Illinois Tool Works Inc	Industrials	48	13.03%	2.38%
JNJ	Johnson & Johnson	Health Care	60	6.37%	2.56%
KMB	Kimberly-Clark	Consumer Staples	50	5.14%	3.42%
KO	Coca-Cola Co	Consumer Staples	60	5.61%	2.77%
LIN	Linde plc	Materials	29	7.84%	1.43%
LOW	Lowe's Cos Inc	Consumer Discretionary	60	19.95%	2.11%
MCD	McDonald's Corp	Consumer Discretionary	47	7.03%	2.31%
MDT	Medtronic plc	Health Care	45	10.00%	3.50%
MKC	McCormick & Co	Consumer Staples	36	9.09%	1.88%
MMM	3M Co	Industrials	64	9.71%	4.97%
NEE	NextEra Energy	Utilities	28	10.98%	2.03%
NDSN	Nordson Corp	Industrials	59	15.30%	1.09%
NUE	Nucor Corp	Materials	50	3.20%	1.55%
O	Realty Income Corp.	Real Estate	30	5.29%	4.70%
PEP	PepsiCo Inc	Consumer Staples	50	7.77%	2.55%
PG	Procter & Gamble	Consumer Staples	66	5.02%	2.41%
PNR	Pentair PLC	Industrials	47	3.58%	1.96%
PPG	PPG Industries Inc	Materials	51	7.54%	1.97%
ROP	Roper Technologies, Inc	Industrials	30	16.25%	0.63%
SHW	Sherwin-Williams Co	Materials	44	16.53%	1.01%
SJM	J.M. Smucker	Consumer Staples	25	7.23%	2.57%
SPGI	S&P Global	Financials	49	12.53%	1.02%
SWK	Stanley Black & Decker	Industrials	55	5.86%	4.26%
SYY	Sysco Corp	Consumer Staples	52	5.92%	2.56%
TGT	Target Corp	Consumer Discretionary	55	11.61%	2.90%
TROW	T Rowe Price Group Inc	Financials	36	13.44%	4.40%
VFC	VF Corp	Consumer Discretionary	50	10.92%	7.39%
WBA	Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc	Consumer Staples	47	6.71%	5.14%
WMT	Wal-Mart	Consumer Staples	49	3.65%	1.58%
WST	West Pharmaceutical Services	Health Care	30	7.18%	0.32%
XOM	Exxon Mobil Corp	Energy	40	5.00%	3.30%

Note: Data as of 12/31/2022

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.

These are the returns since the launch of the Dividend Aristocrats Index in 1989:

Year	Dividend  Aristocrats	S&P 500	Difference
1990	5.70%	-3.10%	8.80%
1991	38.50%	30.50%	8.00%
1992	10.10%	7.60%	2.50%
1993	4.30%	10.10%	-5.80%
1994	0.90%	1.40%	-0.50%
1995	34.60%	37.60%	-3.00%
1996	20.90%	23.00%	-2.10%
1997	35.50%	33.40%	2.10%
1998	16.80%	28.60%	-11.80%
1999	-5.40%	21.00%	-26.40%
2000	10.10%	-9.10%	19.20%
2001	10.80%	-11.90%	22.70%
2002	-9.90%	-22.10%	12.20%
2003	25.40%	28.70%	-3.30%
2004	15.50%	10.90%	4.60%
2005	3.70%	4.90%	-1.20%
2006	17.30%	15.80%	1.50%
2007	-2.10%	5.50%	-7.60%
2008	-21.90%	-37.00%	15.10%
2009	26.60%	26.50%	0.10%
2010	19.35%	15.06%	4.29%
2011	8.33%	2.11%	6.22%
2012	16.94%	16.00%	0.94%
2013	32.27%	32.39%	-0.12%
2014	15.76%	13.69%	2.07%
2015	0.93%	1.38%	-0.45%
2016	11.83%	11.96%	-0.13%
2017	21.73%	21.83%	-0.10%
2018	-2.73%	-4.38%	1.65%
2019	27.97%	31.49%	-3.52%
2020	8.68%	18.40%	-9.72%
2021	25.99%	28.71%	-2.72%
2022	-6.21%	-18.11%	11.90%

You can see the performance of the Dividend Aristocrats Index versus S&P 500 since 1989. The S&P 500 dominated during the 1990's. However, the Dividend Aristocrats index did very well during the next decade. During the past decade, the Dividend Aristocrats Index has basically matched S&P 500 until early 2020. Over the past two years, it has trailed S&P 500 slightly. 

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 236.32%. In other words, investing $100 in the Dividend Aristocrats list in December 2011 would have turned into $336.32 by December 31, 2022 . The same amount investing in S&P 500 would have turned into $326.54 however.

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 2023 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).


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