Dividend Aristocrats
To be considered a dividend aristocrat you need to meet a few criteria’s. Start off by being a company in the S&P 500 index, have consistent dividend payout over the course of 25 years and have consistent dividend growth each year. Large and established companies tend to be a factor when joining this prestigious club. Stocks under this category are good picks as they are generally recession proof, providing stead profits and growth in dividend income during good and bad times.
A good example would be 3M (MMM), we won’t do the full history but we’ll go back as far as 2013. Since 2013, they went from $0.6350 per quarter to $1.4900 per quarter (most recent). That is a 134.65% increase over the course of 9 years. That is an impressive jump and that is what makes this stock worthy of the title of aristocrat. For any investor, this is a solid choice when looking for stocks to add to your portfolio. The market cap is currently $65.38B so the company is not going anywhere anytime soon.
There is not much difference between a dividend king and aristocrat. The main difference is a king has 50 years of consistent growth in dividends each year compared to 25 for aristocrats.
| COMPANY | SECTOR | YEARS OF DIVIDEND GROWTH | DIVIDEND YIELD |
| 3M Co. (MMM) | Industrials | 64 | 3.70% |
| A.O. Smith Corp. (AOS) | Industrials | 29 | 1.50% |
| Abbott Laboratories (ABT) | Health care | 50 | 1.50% |
| AbbVie Inc. (ABBV) | Health care | 50 | 4.50% |
| Aflac Inc. (AFL) | Financials | 39 | 2.50% |
| Air Products and Chemicals Inc. (APD) | Materials | 40 | 2.60% |
| Albemarle Corp. (ALB) | Materials | 28 | 0.70% |
| Amcor PLC (AMCR) | Materials | 39 | 4.20% |
| Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. (ADM) | Consumer staples | 48 | 2.10% |
| Atmos Energy Corp. (ATO) | Utilities | 35 | 2.60% |
| Automatic Data Processing Inc. (ADP) | Information technology | 47 | 2.00% |
| Becton, Dickinson & Co. (BDX) | Health care | 50 | 1.30% |
| Brown & Brown Inc. (BRO) | Financials | 28 | 0.60% |
| Brown-Forman Corp. (BF-B) | Consumer staples | 38 | 1.10% |
| Cardinal Health Inc. (CAH) | Health care | 35 | 3.60% |
| Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) | Industrials | 28 | 2.20% |
| Chevron Corp. (CVX) | Energy | 35 | 4.10% |
| Chubb Ltd. (CB) | Financials | 29 | 1.60% |
| Church & Dwight Co. Inc. (CHD) | Consumer staples | 26 | 1.00% |
| Cincinnati Financial Corp. (CINF) | Financials | 62 | 2.20% |
| Cintas Corp. (CTAS) | Industrials | 38 | 1.00% |
| The Clorox Co. (CLX) | Consumer staples | 46 | 3.20% |
| The Coca-Cola Co. (KO) | Consumer staples | 60 | 2.70% |
| Colgate-Palmolive Co. (CL) | Consumer staples | 60 | 2.20% |
| Consolidated Edison Inc. (ED) | Utilities | 48 | 3.70% |
| Dover Corp. (DOV) | Industrials | 66 | 1.20% |
| Ecolab Inc. (ECL) | Materials | 30 | 1.10% |
| Emerson Electric Co. (EMR) | Industrials | 60 | 2.10% |
| Essex Property Trust Inc. (ESS) | Real estate | 28 | 2.70% |
| Expeditors International of Washington Inc. (EXPD) | Industrials | 28 | 1.10% |
| ExxonMobil Corp. (XOM) | Energy | 38 | 4.30% |
| Federal Realty Investment Trust (FRT) | Real estate | 50 | 3.50% |
| Franklin Resources Inc. (BEN) | Financials | 41 | 3.70% |
| General Dynamics Corp. (GD) | Industrials | 31 | 2.20% |
| Genuine Parts Co. (GPC) | Consumer discretionary | 66 | 2.50% |
| Hormel Foods Corp. (HRL) | Consumer staples | 56 | 2.20% |
| Illinois Tool Works Inc. (ITW) | Industrials | 51 | 2.20% |
| International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) | Information technology | 26 | 4.80% |
| Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) | Health care | 60 | 2.50% |
| Kimberly-Clark Corp. (KMB) | Consumer staples | 49 | 3.50% |
| Linde PLC (LIN) | Materials | 29 | 1.40% |
| Lowe’s Cos. Inc. (LOW) | Consumer discretionary | 48 | 1.40% |
| McCormick & Co. (MKC) | Consumer staples | 36 | 1.40% |
| McDonald’s Corp. (MCD) | Consumer discretionary | 45 | 2.10% |
| Medtronic PLC (MDT) | Health care | 44 | 2.50% |
| NextEra Energy Inc. (NEE) | Utilities | 26 | 2.00% |
| Nucor Corp. (NUE) | Materials | 49 | 1.70% |
| Pentair PLC (PNR) | Industrials | 45 | 1.40% |
| People’s United Financial Inc. (PBCT) | Financials | 29 | 3.40% |
| PepsiCo Inc. (PEP) | Consumer staples | 49 | 2.50% |
| PPG Industries Inc. (PPG) | Materials | 50 | 1.50% |
| Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) | Consumer staples | 66 | 2.20% |
| Realty Income Corp. (O) | Real estate | 27 | 4.40% |
| Roper Technologies Inc. (ROP) | Industrials | 29 | 0.60% |
| S&P Global Inc. (SPGI) | Financials | 49 | 0.80% |
| Sherwin-Williams Co. (SHW) | Materials | 43 | 0.80% |
| Stanley Black & Decker Inc. (SWK) | Industrials | 54 | 1.90% |
| Sysco Corp. (SYY) | Consumer staples | 42 | 2.30% |
| T. Rowe Price Group Inc. (TROW) | Financials | 36 | 2.90% |
| Target Corp. (TGT) | Consumer discretionary | 50 | 1.70% |
| VF Corp. (VFC) | Consumer discretionary | 50 | 3.20% |
| W.W. Grainger Inc. (GWW) | Industrials | 51 | 1.30% |
| Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. (WBA) | Consumer staples | 46 | 3.80% |
| Walmart Inc. (WMT) | Consumer staples | 49 | 1.60% |
| West Pharmaceutical Services Inc. (WST) | Health care | 29 | 0.20% |
