Dividend Kings List

A dividend king is a company that has managed to increase dividends to shareholders for at least 50 years in a row.

There are only 38 such companies in the US, and perhaps a couple more in the rest of the world. It is not a small achievement to have been able to reward long-term shareholders with a dividend raise for over half a century.

Over the past 50 years, some calamities experienced include:

- Seven Recessions since 1967
- The Vietnam War
- The oil crisis in the 1970s
- Stagflationary 1970s
- Double digit interest rates in the 1980s
- Fall of the Soviet Union in 1991
- 9/11 in 2001
- The Dot-com bubble bursting in 2000
- The housing bubble bursting in 2007 - 2008
- ZIRP and NIRP since 2009

- The Covid-19 Pandemic


Throughout this calamity each of those businesses managed to grow earnings, and raise the dividend to their long-term shareholders. If you are looking for a long-term shareholder base, the best way to build it is by paying those owners more every single year. This is a simple, but novel idea for corporations to embrace.

We had nine new additions to the list in 2021. There were no companies that left the list. These actions brought the number of companies to 38, from 29 at the end of 2020. This is a record since we started tracking the list of dividend kings in 2010.

When I first came up with the idea for the list of dividend kings in 2010, there were only eleven companies on it. Our 2022 list includes 30 companies. 


The new additions for the current year include:


Becton, Dickinson and Company (BDX)
W.W. Grainger, Inc. (GWW)
Illinois Tool Works (ITW)
Leggett & Platt, Incorporated (LEG)
National Fuel Gas Company (NFG)
PPG Industries, Inc. (PPG)
Target Corporation (TGT)
Tennant Company (TNC)
Universal Corporation (UVV)


These were consistent with my predictions from last year. It is a testament to the predictable nature of their businesses, not in my forecasting abilities.

There are a few companies, which are incorrectly listed as dividend kings elsewhere. One is Sysco (SYY). Upon review of their dividend history, I realized they only have 45 years of consecutive annual dividend increases under their belt. They would be eligible for inclusion in 2026. They kept dividends unchanged in 1975 and 1976. It pays to review the dividend history, before deciding 

I did some research on historical changes of the Dividend Kings list, which you may find interesting. I reviewed the evolution of the dividend kings prior to 2007 in the article, which has not been done by anyone else. 

Since 2010, there have been only two companies that have left the list. One, Vectren (VVC) was acquired. The second, Diebold (DBD), kept dividends unchanged, but ultimately ended up cutting them.

The companies in the 2021 dividend kings list include: 

Note: The prices and yields are as of  November 30, 2021

Company Name

Symbol

Sector

Years Dividend Increases

10 Year Annualized Dividend Growth

Dividend Yield

Share Price

ABM Industries Inc.

ABM

Industrials

54

3.20%

1.69%

45.00

American States Water

AWR

Utilities

67

9.43%

1.55%

94.18

Becton, Dickinson

BDX

Health Care

50

8.02%

1.47%

237.14

Black Hills Corp.

BKH

Utilities

51

4.19%

3.71%

64.12

Commerce Bancshares

CBSH

Financials

53

6.47%

1.50%

69.8

Cincinnati Financial

CINF

Financials

61

4.06%

2.21%

113.9

Colgate-Palmolive Co.

CL

Consumer Staples

58

5.60%

2.40%

75.02

California Water Service

CWT

Utilities

54

3.63%

1.46%

63.01

Dover Corp.

DOV

Industrials

66

8.22%

1.22%

163.85

Emerson Electric

EMR

Industrials

65

4.03%

2.35%

87.84

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp

FMCB

Financials

59

2.50%

1.62%

965.04

Federal Realty Inv. Trust

FRT

Real Estate

54

4.74%

3.49%

122.67

H.B. Fuller Company

FUL

Materials

52

8.84%

0.92%

73.16

Genuine Parts Co.

GPC

Consumer Discretionary

65

6.75%

2.55%

127.74

W.W. Grainger

GWW

Industrials

50

11.06%

1.35%

481.41

Hormel Foods Corp.

HRL

Consumer Staples

54

16.04%

2.51%

41.4

Illinois Tool Works

ITW

Industrials

50

13.10%

2.10%

232.15

Johnson & Johnson

JNJ

Health Care

59

6.55%

2.72%

155.93

Coca-Cola Company

KO

Consumer Staples

59

6.42%

3.20%

52.45

Lancaster Colony Corp.

LANC

Consumer Staples

59

8.77%

2.19%

146.2

Leggett & Platt

LEG

Consumer Discretionary

50

4.30%

4.16%

40.39

Lowe's Companies

LOW

Consumer Discretionary

59

18.85%

1.31%

244.59

3M Company

MMM

Industrials

63

10.84%

3.48%

170.04

Altria Group Inc.

MO

Consumer Staples

52

9.06%

8.44%

42.64

MSA Safety Inc.

MSA

Industrials

50

5.62%

1.23%

143.32

Nordson Corp.

NDSN

Industrials

58

14.65%

0.80%

254.19

National Fuel Gas

NFG

Utilities

51

2.61%

3.15%

57.81

Northwest Natural Gas

NWN

Utilities

66

1.30%

4.48%

43.12

Procter & Gamble Co.

PG

Consumer Staples

65

5.16%

2.41%

144.58

Parker-Hannifin Corp.

PH

Industrials

65

12.65%

1.36%

302.06

PPG Industries, Inc.

PPG

Materials

50

6.78%

1.53%

154.17

Stepan Company

SCL

Materials

54

8.71%

1.19%

112.71

SJW Corp.

SJW

Utilities

54

6.53%

2.02%

67.35

Stanley Black & Decker

SWK

Industrials

54

7.57%

1.81%

174.76

Target Corporation

TGT

Consumer Discretionary

50

12.30%

1.48%

243.84

Tennant Company

TNC

Industrials

50

4.20%

1.27%

78.66

Tootsie Roll Industries

TR

Consumer Staples

52

4.22%

1.14%

31.45

Universal Corporation

UVV

Consumer Staples

51

4.99%

6.70%

46.57

There are five companies which are set to potentially join the elite list of dividend kings by the end of 2022. These companies have a 49 year record of annual dividend increases:

The Gorman-Rupp Company (GRC)
Kimberly-Clark Corporation (KMB)
Middlesex Water Company (MSEX)
PepsiCo, Inc. (PEP)
V.F. Corporation (VFC)


This track record is a testament to the stability of the underlying businesses that generated the earnings growth necessary to grow the dividend for half a century (and longer). This track record is an indication of a business that is relatively immune to outside shocks. This resilience throughout the period manifests itself into the long stretch of dividend increases, spanning over half a century.

While these companies are not investment recommendations, I post them as examples for further study by serious dividend investors. Studying the businesses, their industries, could give you clues as to the type of business that can flourish over a half of a century.

The chart below shows the historical performance of the Dividend Kings list since 2007. I will update the data by the end of 2020.

If you had invested an equal amount in the dividend kings list starting at the end of 2007, and made updates along the way, along with re-balancing annually to an equal weighted position, you would have done well. The dividend kings list did better than S&P 500 over time, although it did not best it every single year.





As I mentioned above, I have been compiling the list of dividend kings since 2010. To view the historical changes in the list, please follow the links below:


Dividend Kings List for 2020

Dividend Kings List For 2019








Thank you for reading!

PS Note that Parker-Hannifin's track record is based upon dividend payments for its Fiscal Year rather than the Calendar Year. The fiscal year runs from July 1 to June 30.

Therefore, the FY 2015 dividend was $2.37/share ( one dividend payment of 48 cents/share plus three dividend payments of 63 cents/share).
The FY 2016 dividend was $2.52/share ( four dividend payments of 63 cents/share)
The FY 2017 dividend was $2.58/share ( two dividend payments of 66 cents/share plus two dividend payments of 63 cents/share)

Because of the use of Fiscal Years, rather than Calendar Years, I excluded Parker - Hannifin from the first list of dividend kings that I compiled in 2010.



Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)

Popular Posts