The Dividend Kings are the best in class with respect to dividend endurance. A Dividend King is a stock with 50 or more consecutive years of dividend increases. The Dividend Kings list can be a good source for selecting dividend stocks.
While the S&P Dividend Aristocrats Index consists of over 60 stocks, which includes companies in the S&P 500 Index that have raised their dividend for at least 25 consecutive years, there are only 31 dividend kings at the start of 2021.
The Dividend King list does include companies that are not a member of the S&P 500 Index. The average dividend yield, at the moment of writing, is 2.43% for the Kings and the 10 Year Annualized Dividend Growth rate is 8% which we consider as a good percentage for defensive stocks. The “average dividend king” achieved 57 consecutive years of dividend increases.
Instantly get access to the Excel spreadsheet of all Dividend Kings now.
Your spreadsheet will be made available to you after you enter your email address and click to join.
Changes to the Kings in the last years
Several stocks made it to Dividend King list. The latest companies to join the dividend kings list in 2020 were Black Hills Corp. (BKH), National Fuel Gas (NFG), and Universal Corporation (UVV).
In 2019 H.B. Fuller Company (FUL) and Altria Group (MO) did join this list. Due to a merger in 2019 Vectren Corporation (VVC) is no longer a King.
Commerce Bancshares (CBSH) reached the “King status” in 2018.
In 2017, Stepan Company (SCL), Stanley Black & Decker (SWK), SJW Group (SJW), California Water Service (CWT), and Federal Realty Investment Trust (FRT) became dividend kings.
Dividend Kings for 2021
A few stocks with currently 49 years of consecutive dividend increase will be ready to join the Dividend King list in 2021. Here are the four candidates:
- Target (TGT)
- PPG Industries (PPG)
- W.W. Grainger (GWW)
- MSA Safety Incorp. (MSA)
Other Sources of Dividend Investment Ideas
There are several lists to quickly screen for businesses that regularly pay rising dividends.
- The Dividend Aristocrats Index is based on 64 companies part of the S&P 500 and with 25+ years of consecutive dividend increases.
- 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 in 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 years of dividend can be a list of inspiration.
- Blue Chips stocks from the US or the European ones.
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.
You can also join our newsletter for free.
Thanks for reading this article.
Please send any feedback, corrections, or questions to service[@]moneyinvestexpert.com.
