If a big part of an investor’s returns are the dividends that companies distribute every quarter, wouldn’t it make sense if we invest in companies that increase their dividends each year? There are certainly many ways to do this, but one way is to invest with the S&P 500 dividend aristocrats.
Basically, the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats represent companies (ones that are apart of the S&P 500) that have increased their dividends consistently for at least the last 25 years. To make tracking easier, Standard & Poors published a S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats Index for us to keep track and also invest in.
The S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats Index
The Aristocrats Index is an equally weighted index that is re-weighted every quarter. Also, all companies are reviewed annually to make sure:
- The companies in the index have increased their dividends
- Add new companies that make the list
What the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats Mean For Us
Investing in these companies are a great way to invest in solid companies with a great track record. In fact, the performance of this index have been proven to outperform the S&P 500 and be less volatile at the same time. However, it’s not hard to see that 2008 (and so far in 2009) haven’t been a good one for this index. Just because it outperforms the S&P 500 doesn’t mean it will make you money.
List of Companies in the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats (as of 2009)
- 3M Co (MMM)
- Abbott Laboratories (ABT)
- AFLAC Inc (AFL)
- Air Products & Chemicals (APD)
- Anheuser-Busch Cos (BUD)
- Archer-Daniels-Midland (ADM)
- Automatic Data Proc (ADP)
- Avery Dennison Corp (AVY)
- Bank of America (BAC)
- Bard (C.R.) (BCR)
- BB&T Corp (BBT)
- Becton, Dickinson (BDX)
- CenturyTel Inc (CTL)
- Chubb Corp (CB)
- Cincinnati Financial (CINF)
- Clorox Co (CLX)
- Coca-Cola Co (KO)
- Comerica Inc (CMA)
- Consolidated Edison (ED)
- Dover Corp (DOV)
- Emerson Electric (EMR)
- Exxon Mobil (XOM)
- Family Dollar Stores (FDO)
- Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB)
- Gannett Co (GCI)
- General Electric (GE)
- Grainger (W.W.) (GWW)
- Integrys Energy Group (TEG)
- Johnson & Johnson (JNJ)
- Johnson Controls (JCI)
- KeyCorp (KEY)
- Kimberly-Clark (KMB)
- Leggett & Platt (LEG)
- Lilly (Eli) (LLY)
- Lowe’s Cos (LOW)
- M&T Bank (MTB)
- McDonald’s Corp (MCD)
- McGraw-Hill Companies (MHP)
- Nucor Corp (NUE)
- PepsiCo Inc (PEP)
- Pfizer, Inc (PFE)
- Pitney Bowes (PBI)
- PPG Indus (PPG)
- Procter & Gamble (PG)
- Progressive Corp,Ohio (PGR)
- Questar Corp (STR)
- Regions Financial (RF)
- Rohm & Haas (ROH)
- Sherwin-Williams (SHW)
- Sigma-Aldrich (SIAL)
- Stanley Works (SWK)
- State Street Corp (STT)
- Supervalu Inc (SVU)
- Synovus Financial (SNV)
- Target Corp (TGT)
- U.S. Bancorp (USB)
- VF Corp (VFC)
- Wal-Mart Stores (WMT)
- Walgreen Co (WAG)
- Wrigley, (Wm) Jr (WWY)
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Actually your list is outdated. Some of the stocks you mention no longer even trade on stock exchanges. Always research your articles thoroughly before posting.
Best Regards,
Dividend Growth Investor
Dividend Growth Investor: Thanks for letting me know but the list actually came from Standards & Poors own website so I took that as the most up to date published information.
You can find the link here
I didn’t mean to be rude. It just seems that S&P needs updating their links as well.
Check out this one for the latest updated at the end of 2008:
http://www2.standardandpoors.com/spf/xls/index/sp_500_dividend_aristocrat_2008.xls
If you also check this one
http://www2.standardandpoors.com/spf/xls/index/INDICATED_RATE_CHANGE.xls you could get almost the best up to date list 🙂
Best Regards,
DGI
Dividend Growth Investor: No harm done and thanks for commenting 🙂 That was the exact place I got the list when I write it a few days ago.