The Dividend Kings are the best in class with respect to dividend endurance. A Dividend King is a stock with 50+ consecutive years of dividend increases. The Dividend Kings list can be a good source for selecting dividend stocks. Please note that not all Dividend Kings are Dividend Aristocrats. This is because the ‘only’ requirement to be a Dividend Kings is 50+ years of rising dividends, whereas Dividend Aristocrats must have 25+ years of rising dividends AND be a member of the S&P 500 Index, next to some other criteria.
The Dividend Kings slightly underperformed the S&P 500 January 2020 and did slightly better than the dividend aristocrats. The total return data for January 2020 is shown below:
- Dividend Aristocrats January 2020 total return: -2.61%
- Dividend Kings January 2020 total return: -1.8%
- S&P 500 January 2020 total return: -0.04%
The Dividend Kings also underperformed the S&P 500 and the dividend Aristocrats last year. In 2019, the Dividend Kings gained 25.13% (total return). Please note there is no Dividend King ETF, please check-out our Dividend Kings List for the 28 stocks and performance per year.
New Dividend Kings
H.B. Fuller Company (FUL) and Altria Group (MO) were crowned King in 2019, respectively in April and September last year.
H.B. Fuller Company (FUL) has a “low” dividend yield of 1.34%, while Altria Group’s (MO) dividend yield is “top-notch” with 7.44% at the current stock prices. Both underperformed the S&P 500 as the chart below shows.
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. 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. Thanks for reading this article. Please send any feedback, corrections, or questions to service[@]moneyinvestexpert.com.