A Dividend Aristocrat isn’t a rich ruling snob from the French renaissance. The 2012/2013 S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats list is 51 companies that have increased dividends (not just remained the same) for 25 years straight. Keep in mind just because they are on this list now doesn’t mean in the future they will be forced to reduce their dividend. Unfortunately, during our last recession in 2008, many investors found out their dividend was cut on their once stable stock. For example, Pfizer Inc. (PFE) and General Electric Company (GE) both cut their dividend and were removed from the Dividend Aristocrat list in 2009.
At the time of writing, the 10-year treasury is less than 2.00%, and the best 5 year CD yield is currently 2.4% APY. Many of these stocks have comparable or higher dividends. So not only do you have the chance for an increasing dividend, you also can benefit from a rising stock price. Members may be deleted during the December rebalance if during the calendar year dividends did not increase, or intra-year if the stock is removed from the underlying S&P 500. Included is the historical list of stocks added/removed from prior years.
Instead of investing in individual stocks, there is an ETF that closely matches the entire Dividend Aristocats index. SPDR S&P Dividend (SDY) is an alternative and is more a diverse option.
Index Changes
2012 changes
Stocks Removed:
- CenturyLink Inc. – (CTL)
Stocks Added:
- AT&T Inc. – (T)
- Colgate Palmolive Co. – (CL)
- Franklin Resources Inc. – (BEN)
- Genuine Parts Co. – (GPC)
- HCP Inc. – (HCP)
- Illinois Tool Works Inc. – (ITW)
- Medtronic Inc. – (MDT)
- Nucor Corp. – (NUE)
- Sysco Corp. – (SYY)
- T Rowe Price Group Inc. – (TROW)
2011 changes
Stocks Removed:
Stocks Added:
Dividend Aristocrats for 2012/2013
For the most up-to-date dividend rate, click on the ticker symbol.
| Company Name |
Stock Ticker Symbol |
Dividend Rate (Dec 27th 2012) |
|---|---|---|
| 3M Co | MMM | 2.54% |
| AFLAC Inc | AFL | 2.50% |
| Abbott Laboratories | ABT | 3.09% |
| Air Products & Chemicals Inc | APD | 2.92% |
| Archer-Daniels-Midland Co | ADM | 2.55% |
| AT&T Inc. | T | 5.21% |
| Automatic Data Processing | ADP | 2.84% |
| Bard, C.R. Inc | BCR | 0.81% |
| Becton, Dickinson & Co | BDX | 2.36% |
| Bemis Co Inc | BMS | 2.98% |
| Brown-Forman Corp B | BF.B | 1.51% |
| Chubb Corp | CB | 2.19% |
| Cincinnati Financial Corp | CINF | 4.12% |
| Cintas Corp | CTAS | 1.56% |
| Clorox Co | CLX | 3.39% |
| Coca-Cola Co | KO | 2.80% |
| Colgate Palmolive Co. | CL | 2.33% |
| Consolidated Edison Inc | ED | 4.36% |
| Dover Corp | DOV | 2.05% |
| Ecolab Inc. | ECL | 1.16% |
| Emerson Electric Co | EMR | 3.06% |
| Exxon Mobil Corp | XOM | 2.50% |
| Family Dollar Stores Inc | FDO | 1.34% |
| Franklin Resources Inc. | BEN | 0.87% |
| Genuine Parts Co. | GPC | 3.14% |
| Grainger, W.W. Inc | GWW | 1.54% |
| HCP Inc. | HCP | 4.45% |
| Hormel Foods Corporation | HRL | 1.95% |
| Illinois Tool Works Inc. | ITW | 2.43% |
| Johnson & Johnson | JNJ | 3.42% |
| Kimberly-Clark | KMB | 3.55% |
| Leggett & Platt | LEG | 4.27% |
| Lowe’s Cos Inc | LOW | 1.70% |
| McCormick & Company | MKC | 1.95% |
| McDonald’s Corp | MCD | 3.23% |
| McGraw-Hill Cos Inc | MHP | 1.90% |
| Medtronic Inc. | MDT | 2.49% |
| Nucor Corp. | NUE | 3.34% |
| PPG Industries Inc | PPG | 1.74% |
| PepsiCo Inc | PEP | 3.09% |
| Pitney Bowes Inc | PBI | 14.19% |
| Procter & Gamble | PG | 3.25% |
| Sherwin-Williams Co | SHW | 1.02% |
| Sigma-Aldrich Corp | SIAL | 1.08% |
| Stanley Black & Decker | SWK | 2.47% |
| Sysco Corp. | SYY | 3.41% |
| T. Rowe Price Group | TROW | 2.09% |
| Target Corp | TGT | 2.23% |
| VF Corp | VFC | 2.05% |
| Wal-Mart Stores | WMT | 2.34% |
| Walgreen Co | WAG | 2.73% |
Disclosure: Long XOM, JNJ, KO
Dividends are an indication of excess profits and there is nothing wrong with that. Shareholders love consistent performance of companies whether profit or dividends.
I’ve seen some data that over long periods of time, the Aristocrats outperform the major indices too. Good stuff.
Yes. I’m an dividend lover also. Do you have a link on the aristocrats data?
Supervalu was a good deal while it lasted.
Do you have 25 year performance info for these dividend stocks?
What has happened to Duke Energy dividends?
They stopped paying a year ago.
No, Morningstar goes back only ten years (as do most sites).
@InvestorJunkie – Are there any dividend mutual funds you like
Hi Matthew,
In this case I like index based funds, specifically ETFs. Especially in my case since Fidelity offers commission free and can add incrementally with no fee.
http://personal.fidelity.com/products/trading/What_You_Can_Trade/offer-faq-popup.shtml
DVY is more my favorite though.
http://analysis.morningstar.com/analystreport/ear.aspx?symbol=DVY&country=USA
VYM from Vanguard also looks good.
http://quote.morningstar.com/ETF/f.aspx?t=VYM®ion=USA&culture=en-US
SDY
Thanks @Investor Junkie. These are good funds, but they’re still a bit disappointing compared to historical GNMA interest rates and ROI on peer-to-peer lending investments. It seems like a lot of risk for a 3.3% dividend yield. Is there something I’m missing?
I agree, though GNMA aren’t perfect either.
See this recent article:
http://moneywatch.bnet.com/investing/blog/wise-investing/gnmas-you-can-do-better/2887/?tag=col1;blog-river
And this discussion on the Bogleheads forum:
http://rij.cc/qBzPNV
Very helpful – Thank you!
@Matthew, why not cherry-pick your favorite higher yielding stocks from this list and create your “personal” fund? You’re obviously involved in your portfolio management and are a critical thinker so I am sure you can put together a good list with a higher than 3.3% yield.
Love the simplicity of buying all these divy paying stocks through etf’s like dvy and sdy, but any ideas on how to get similar stable divi yields in intl stocks through etf’s or high quality/low cost MF’s?
I have averaged into MAPIX, to try and get some steady dividends outside US(in Asia yielding over 4%). Also have a little PID. Any other good International ETFs with stable dividends?
I am looking to have the bulk of my portfolio in stable dividend equities, spread across the world.
** I guess the real trick internationally is to get the dividends while limiting exposure to the european financial time bombs.
Didn’t NUE slash its dividend during 08-09? Great list though, I bookmarked the page.
If it’s true then S&P’s data is incorrect.
I am surprised IBM is not on this list. Boring is good for building long term wealth!