S&P Dividend Aristocrats: 25+ years of dividend increases

The S&P500 Dividend Aristocrats is the best list for filtering dividend stocks. This should be your starting point to create your core portfolio. Why should it be part of your core portfolio? It’s simple, the companies in the list must have increased their dividends every year for 25 years. Better yet, find one of those stellar aristocrat with a consistent dividend growth rate about 10% and you have a golden goose.

Many of those companies also exhibit consistent growth in value which is what you want along with dividend growth. Dividend investing can be many things and when I started, I looked for high yields but I have since adapted my strategy to look for dividend growth stocks with a double-digit dividend growth history. There are many other reasons why my filtering start with dividend companies, see my post on why I chose dividend investing.

S&P500 US Dividend Aristocrats Requirements

The following criteria must be met to become a S&P500 Dividend Aristocrat:

1. Universe: Member of the S&P 500
2. Financial Viability: Must have increased dividends for 25 consecutive years
3. Size: Have at least 3B$ in market capitalization
4. Liquidity: Must have an average trading volume of US$ 5 million in the past 6 months

Here are specifics about the list itself:

1. Reconstitution: The index is reviewed annually
2. Stock Diversification: At each review, there must be at least 40 companies
3. Sector Diversification: No more than 30% of a sector weight in the index

Many of the companies you are going to see have increased their dividends for more than 25 years, that’s quite a commitment to shareholders. Below is the complete sector breakdown for the aristocrats. You can also buy a dividend aristocrat ETF like NOBL.

S&P US Dividend Aristocrats List

The constituents are listed below. See the Dividend Ambassadors for the best dividend growth aristocrats as not all dividend aristocrats grow their dividends at the same rate.

Constituents