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.
- 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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