- 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
- By showing the recent performance of the Dividend Aristocrats, some active dividend growth investors may be able to identify relative bargains.
- The top-10 dividend Aristocrats by current dividend yield are also listed.
- The Dividend Aristocrats posted a +1.27% return in October.
U.S. equities continued their way up in October, helped by optimism around trade talks with China, a good earnings-season, and easing from the Fed. The S&P 500 gained 2.17% and year-to-date the S&P 500 is up around 23% and just below all-time high records.
Especially the Tech. sector leading the way up this month.
New record high S&P 500
U.S. stocks jumped Friday, November 1st and the S&P 500 hit a record intraday high after the October jobs report came in well above consensus expectations. The S&P 500 total return for last month (October) was +2.17% and up 23.16% for 2019. The Dividend Aristocrats posted a +1.27% return in October and are up 21.82% for the year. This means a small underperformance in the current uptrend of the S&P 500.
Dividend Aristocrats performance October 2019
The table below lists all 57 constituents, sorted by indicated dividend yield and lists returns over trailing last month, 3-, 6-, and 12-month periods.
35 dividend aristocrats posted positive returns in October. Leggett & Platt (LEG) jumped +25.3% based on higher adjusted earnings per share of $0.76, beating analysts’ estimates of $0.67. Pentair (PNR) & Caterpillar (CAT) were also amongst the top-performers with 9.71% and 9.10% during this Q3 earnings season.
McDonald’s Corporation (MCD) and V.F. Corporation (VFC) had a difficult month and fell both around 8%, due to missing earnings estimates. McDonald’s quarterly results fell short of estimates, Earnings per share: $2.11 vs. $2.21 expected and Revenue: $5.4 billion vs. $5.5 billion expected.
VF Corporation’s revenue grew 5.4% to $3.39 billion but missed analysts’ estimate of $3.42 billion.
Dividends and Dividend Yield
Next to dividend growth investing, a high yield dividend could also be an approach. The table below lists the top-10 Dividend Aristocrats sorted descending by the current dividend yield (end of October 2019).
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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