Are dividend stocks a good investment?
Today’s chart answers that question by presenting the total return trend for both the S&P 500 and S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats.
Today’s chart illustrates that, so far this millennium, the quality dividend stocks of the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats (orange line) have outperformed the benchmark S&P 500 (blue line).
Upon further inspection, it becomes evident that this outperformance was accomplished with less volatility.
All of this suggests that, over the long-term, dividend payments can provide a boost to total return while reducing volatility.
More recently, while the S&P 500 remains significantly below its peak, the Aristocrats are challenging all-time highs.
It is worth noting that the higher dividend yielding Dogs of the Dow X are actually up double digits year-to-date.
What is the total number of Dividend Aristocrats?
In total, there are 64 stocks that make up the Dividend Aristocrats.
Which stocks are in the Dividend Aristocrats?
The 64 stocks that make up the Dividend Aristocrats are 3M, A.O. Smith, Abbott Labs, AbbVie, Aflac, Air Products, Albemarle, Amcor, Archer-Daniels, Atmos Energy, Automatic Data, Becton Dickinson, Brown & Brown, Brown-Forman, Cardinal Health, Caterpillar, Chevron, Chubb, Church & Dwight, Cincinnati Financial, Cintas, Clorox, Coca-Cola, Colgate-Palmolive, Consol Edison, Dover, Ecolab, Emerson Electric, Essex Property, Expeditors, ExxonMobil, Federal Realty, Franklin Resources, General Dynamics, Genuine Parts, Hormel Foods, IBM, Illinois Tool Works, Johnson & Johnson, Kimberly-Clark, Linde, Lowe’s, McCormick, McDonald’s, Medtronic, NextEra Energy, Nucor, Pentair, PepsiCo, PPG, Procter & Gamble, Realty Income, Roper, S&P Global, Sherwin-Williams, Stanley B & D, Sysco, T. Rowe Price, Target, VF, W.W. Grainger, Walgreens, Walmart, and West Pharmaceutical.
What criteria must a company meet to qualify as a Dividend Aristocrat?
To qualify as a dividend Aristocrat, a company must be listed on the SP 500, must have increased its total dividend per share annually for a minimum of 25 consecutive years, must have a minimum float-adjusted market cap of three billion dollars and must have a minimum three-month average daily volume of $5 million.