- The Dividend Aristocrats are companies of the S&P 500 that have paid steadily increasing dividends for at least 25 years have outperformed the broader market over time, like in 2018.
- This article lists the current Dividend Aristocrat constituents and their recent returns including the month of March 2019.
- By showing the recent performance of the Dividend Aristocrats, some active dividend growth investors may be able to identify relative bargains.
The S&P 500 had the best first quarter performance in two decades. The Dividend Aristocrats started the first quarter of the year 2019 also with a strong performance The Dividend Aristocrats index total return is 12.48% year-to-date. This is below the total return of the benchmark S&P 500-index, the S&P 500 (SPY) is up 13.65% in 2019.
In April the strong performance continued with the Dividend Aristocrats index total return up 14.5% year-to-date and the S&P 500 (SPY) up 18.25%
Traditionally, the out-performance by the Dividend Aristocrats has occurred in down markets, like last year. So, the under-performance is not a surprise.
Details performance April 2019
The table below lists all 57 constituents, including the four new aristocrats sorted by returns over last month, 3-, 6-, and 12-month periods.
The top performers in April were Cincinnati Financial Corporation (CINF) (+11.97%) and United Technologies Corporation (UTX) (+10.64%), Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. (WBA) (-15.33%) and Pentair (PNR) (-12.4%) were down.
Dividends and Dividend Yield
Next to dividend growth investing, high yield dividend could also be an approach. The table below lists the top-10 Dividend Aristocrats sorted descending by current dividend yield (04/30/2019).
Please note that selected high yield Dividend Aristocrats is historically not a way to outperform the S&P 500. Back-testing of the Dogs of the Dividend Aristocrats over the past years resulted in an under-performance with respect to the S&P 500 index.
The above-presented performance data of the Dividend Aristocrats, could assist active dividend growth investors to find some bargains for the long run.
Other Sources of Dividend Investment Ideas
The Dividend Aristocrats list is not the only way to quickly screen for businesses that regularly pay rising dividends.
- The Dividend Kings List is even more exclusive than the Dividend Aristocrats. It is comprised of less than 20 businesses with 50+ years of consecutive dividend increases.
- The MoneyInvestExpert Defensive Aristocrats is a performance-based top-10 selection of the Dividend Aristocrats to outperform the market on the long-term.
- Portfolio lists like the Berkshire Hathaway Portfolio or Bill Gates’stock portfolio can be a source.
- For the European focused investors there is also the list of European Dividend Aristocrats.
- Dividend Champions are not necessarily members of the S&P 500 index, have increased their dividend for 25 or more consecutive years.
- 100+ years of dividend, the list of stocks that pay over 100 year of dividend can be an list of inspiration.
Next to selecting the right dividend stocks, important principles for successful long-term investing are Disciple, Diversification, Defensive & indeed Dividend. Read more about this in our free e-book.
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