What are dividend aristocrats?
The S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats is a stock market index consisting of companies in the S&P 500 index that have increased their dividends in each of the last 25 consecutive years. This index for dividend aristocrats was launched in May 2005. What are dividend aristocrats?
There are other indices of dividend aristocrats that vary in terms of market capitalisation and minimum duration of successive annual dividend increases.
Components are added when they reach the 25-year threshold and removed when they fail to grow their dividend in a calendar year or are removed from the S&P 500. However, one study found that the stock performance of companies improves after they are removed from the index. The index has been recommended as an alternative to bonds for investors looking to generate income.
Components
There are 66 companies in the index.
| Company | Short name | Sector |
| 3M | MMM | Industrials |
| A.O. Smith | AOS | Industrials |
| Abbott Laboratories | ABT | health care |
| AbbVie | ABBV | health care |
| AFLAC | AFL | Financials |
| Air Products & Chemicals | APD | Materials |
| Albemarle Corporation | ALB | Materials |
| Amcor | CDMA | Materials |
| Archer-Daniels-Midland Co | ADM | Consumer Staples |
| Atmos Energy Corp | ATO | Utilities |
| Automatic Data Processing | ADP | information technology |
| Becton Dickinson & Co | BDX | health care |
| Brown & Brown Inc. | BRO | Financials |
| Brown-Forman (class B) | BF.B | Consumer Staples |
| Cardinal Health Inc | CAH | health care |
| Caterpillar Inc | CAT | Industrials |
| C.H. Robinson | CHRW | Industrials |
| Chevron Corp | CLC | Energy |
| Chubb Limited | CB | Financials |
| Church & Dwight Co. Inc. | CHD | Consumer Staples |
| Cincinnati Financial Corp | CINF | Financials |
| Cintas Corp | CTAS | Industrials |
| Clorox | CLX | Consumer Staples |
| Coca-Cola Co | KO | Consumer Staples |
| Colgate-Palmolive | CL | Consumer Staples |
| Consolidated Edison Inc | ED | Utilities |
| Dover Corp | DOV | Industrials |
| Ecolab Inc | ECL | Materials |
| Emerson Electric | EMR | Industrials |
| Essex Property Trust | ESS | Real Estate |
| Expeditors International of Washington | EXPD | Industrials |
| Exxon Mobil Corp | XOM | Energy |
| Federal Realty Investment Trust | FRT | Real Estate |
| Franklin Resources Inc | BEN | Financials |
| General Dynamics | DG | Industrials |
| Genuine Parts Company | GPC | Consumer Discretionary |
| Hormel Foods Corp | HRL | Consumer Staples |
| Illinois Tool Works | ITW | Industrials |
| IBM | IBM | information technology |
| The J. M. Smucker Company | LSU | Consumer Staples |
| Johnson & Johnson | JNJ | health care |
| Kimberly-Clark | KMB | Consumer Staples |
| Linde plc | LIN | Materials |
| Lowe’s | LOW | Consumer Discretionary |
| McCormick & Company | MKC | Consumer Staples |
| McDonald’s Corp | MCD | Consumer Discretionary |
| Medtronic plc | MDT | health care |
| NextEra Energy | NO | Utilities |
| Nordson Corp | NDSN | Industrials |
| Nucor Corp | NUE | Materials |
| Pentair | NRP | Industrials |
| PepsiCo | PEP | Consumer Staples |
| PPG Industries | PPG | Materials |
| Procter & Gamble | PG | Consumer Staples |
| Realty Income | O | Real Estate |
| Roper Technologies | ROP | Industrials |
| S&P Global Inc | SPGI | Financials |
| Sherwin-Williams | SHW | Materials |
| Stanley Black & Decker | SWK | Industrials |
| Sysco Corp | SYY | Consumer Staples |
| T Rowe Price Group Inc | TROW | Financials |
| Target Corp | TGT | Consumer Discretionary |
| W. W. Grainger | GWW | Industrials |
| Walgreens Boots Alliance | WBA | Consumer Staples |
| Walmart Inc. | WMT | Consumer Staples |
| West Pharmaceutical Services Inc | WST | health care |
Component history
The following are the changes in the components of the index since 2008:
In 2023, three companies were added to the list: CH Robinson Worldwide (CHRW), Nordson (NDSN) and J.M. Smucker (SJM);[5] and VF Corporation (VFC) announced a cut in its dividend in February; leaving the index with 66 dividend aristocrats.
In 2022, two companies were added to the index: Brown & Brown, Inc (BRO) and Church & Dwight Co, Inc (CHD). AT&T Inc (T) was removed due to its dividend cut and People’s United Financial, Inc (PBCT) was removed when its merger with M&T Bank Corporation was completed.
In 2021, there were three additions to the index: IBM (IBM), NextEra Energy (NEE) and West Pharmaceutical Services (WST). Five companies were removed from the index: Raytheon (RTX), Carrier Global (CARR), Otis Worldwide (OTIS), Stryker Corporation (SYK) and Leggett & Platt (LEG), which was removed when it moved from the S&P 500 to the S&P MidCap 400.
In 2020, there were 7 additions: Amcor (AMCR), Atmos Energy (ATO), Realty Income Corporation (O), Essex Property Trust (ESS), Ross Stores (ROST), Albemarle Corporation (ALB) and Expeditors International (EXPD) were added to the list that went into effect before the market opened on February 3.
United Technologies changed its name to Raytheon Technologies after divesting certain divisions and remained in the index. Both spin-offs Carrier Global (CARR) and Otis Worldwide (OTIS) were added to the index, a change that took effect before the market opened on April 3, 2020.
Ross Stores (ROST) and Helmerich & Payne (HP). Ross Stores suspended its dividend on 21 May due to the covid-19 pandemic and was removed from the index before the market opened on 1 July 2020
In 2019, Chubb Limited (CB), People’s United Financial (PBCT), Caterpillar Inc (CAT) and United Technologies (UTX) were added to the index.
In 2016, Chubb Corp (CB) was removed upon acquisition by ACE Limited (ACE).
In 2015, Family Dollar Stores (FDO) was removed from the index due to its purchase by Dollar Tree. Sigma-Aldrich (SIAL) was removed from the list due to the acquisition by Merck Group.
In 2014, Bemis (BMS) was removed from the S&P 500 index and was therefore removed from the index.
In 2013, Pitney Bowes (PBI) was removed after cutting its dividend from 37.5c to 18.75c per quarter per share.
In 2012, CenturyLink (CTL) was removed from the index. The following 9 companies were added to the index: AT&T (T), Colgate-Palmolive (CL), Franklin Templeton Investments (BEN), Genuine Parts Company (GPC), Health Care Property Investors (HCP), Illinois Tool Works (ITW) , Medtronic (MDT), Sysco (SYY) and T. Rowe Price (TROW).
2011 saw the addition of Ecolab (ECL), Hormel Foods (HRL) and McCormick & Company (MKC).
In 2010, ten companies were removed from the index: Avery Dennison (AVY), BB&T (BBT), Gannett (GCI), General Electric (GE), Johnson Controls (JCI), Legg Mason (LM), M&T Bank (MTB) , Pfizer (PFE), State Street Bank (STT) and U.S. Bancorp (USB). Brown Forman (BF.B) was appointed.
In 2009, 9 companies were removed from the index: Anheuser Busch (BUD), Bank of America (BAC), Comerica (CMA), Fifth Third Bank (FITB), Keycorp (KEY), Progressive Corp (PGR), Regions Financial ( RF), Synovus Financial (SNV) and Wrigley Company (WW), which was acquired by Mars, Incorporated. There were two additions: Bemis Company (BMS) and Leggett & Platt (LEG).
In 2008, the index included 52 companies.
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