Dividend Kings vs Dividend Aristocrats: Who’s on the 2020 list

As part of building your dividend income portfolio, you may be looking at stocks with long dividend payment histories. Let’s take a look at the Dividend Kings vs Dividend Aristocrats. Which stocks are on the lists? And why certain stocks are not on both.

Stocks with long histories of dividend payments can be great additions to your dividend income portfolio. Have you heard of the Dividend Kings and Dividend Aristocrats? They are both lists of stocks with very long histories of consecutive dividend payments.

Beyond a simple benchmark of how many years these stocks have been consecutively increasing their dividend payments, there are a few other differences to consider.

What are Dividend Kings?

Dividend King is a stock with 50 years or more of consecutive dividend increases. Unlike the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats, this list of companies is not officially tracked by a ratings companies.

The companies included as dividend kings on the list below focuses on companies headquartered in the United States. The list will change depending on the country you’re looking to focus on.

What are Dividend Aristocrats?

A Dividend Aristocrat is a stock with 25 years or more of consecutive dividend increases and is part of the S&P 500. This list of stocks is officially tracked by the ratings company.

For the Dividend Aristocrats, they need to participate in the economy of the United States, but not be headquartered here.

Why some of the Dividend Kings are not on the Dividend Aristocrats list?

Not all Dividend Kings are also Dividend Aristocrats because are not required to be on the S&P 500 list. After comparing the 25 US Dividend Kings:

• 14 are Dividend Aristocrats list
• 11 are not also Dividend Aristocrats

And as some of the Dividend Aristocrats continue to pay dividends into their 50th year, they might not be included on the United States Dividend King list. It will depend on where the company is headquartered.

Dividends from companies headquartered outside of the United States could have some tax implications, assuming you’re also a US resident. Double-check with your favorite tax professional for more information on how this might apply to your situation.

Before you buy shares either a Dividend Aristocrat or Dividend King company

You’ve probably heard the old saying, past results don’t guarantee future performance. So while these stocks have long histories of paying dividends, there is no guaranty of future increases or payments forever.

These companies have weathered difficult economic and market conditions in the past. Usually, the companies goal is to pay dividends as long as they can as they know it affects the stock price. But market conditions cannot be predicted, nor can mergers and acquisitions.

Make sure you always research the company prior to purchasing stock to make sure it’s the right stock to buy at the moment. And keep an eye on the company in the future. Even though your investment strategy may be buy-and-hold long-term, sometimes there are indicators it’s time to sell that stock.

With all of that said, let’s start looking at the list of Dividend Aristocrats vs Dividend Kings

List of Dividend Kings vs Dividend Aristocrats

In total, there are 67 stocks on the combined list of US Dividend Kings and Dividend Aristocrats. Here is the aligned list showing the symbol, company name, sector, growth streak, and how they’re categorized.

Symbol	Company Name	Sector	Dividend Aristocrat	Dividend King	Growth Streak
MMM	3M Company	Industrials	Yes	Yes	60
AOS	A.O. Smith	Industrials	Yes		25
ABT	Abbott Laboratories	Health Care	Yes		46
ABBV	AbbVie Inc.	Health Care	Yes		46
ABM	ABM Industries Incorporated	Industrials		Yes	51
AFL	AFLAC Inc.	Financials	Yes		37
APD	Air Products & Chemicals Inc	Materials	Yes		36
AWR	American States Water Company	Utilities		Yes	64
ADM	Archer-Daniels-Midland Co	Consumer Staples	Yes		43
T	AT&T	Communication Services	Yes		35
ADP	Automatic Data Processing	Information Technology	Yes		44
BDX	Becton Dickinson	Health Care	Yes		47
BF.B	Brown-Forman (Class B shares)	Consumer Staples	Yes		35
CWT	California Water Services Group	Utilities		Yes	51
CAH	Cardinal Health Inc.	Health Care	Yes		32
CAT	Caterpillar Inc.	Industrials	Yes		25
CVX	Chevron Corp.	Energy	Yes		31
CB	Chubb Limited	Financials	Yes		25
CINF	Cincinnati Financial Corp	Financials	Yes	Yes	59
CTAS	Cintas Corp	Industrials	Yes		36
KO	Coca-Cola Co	Consumer Staples	Yes	Yes	57
CL	Colgate-Palmolive	Consumer Staples	Yes	Yes	56
ED	Consolidated Edison Inc	Utilities	Yes		45
DOV	Dover Corp	Industrials	Yes	Yes	63
ECL	Ecolab Inc	Materials	Yes		26
EMR	Emerson Electric	Industrials	Yes	Yes	62
XOM	Exxon Mobil Corp	Energy	Yes		37
FMCB	Famers & Merchants Bancorp	Financials		Yes	54
FRT	Federal Realty Investment Trust	Real Estate	Yes	Yes	51
BEN	Franklin Resources	Financials	Yes		39
GD	General Dynamics	Industrials	Yes		27
GPC	Genuine Parts Company	Consumer Discretionary	Yes	Yes	63
HRL	Hormel Foods Corp	Consumer Staples	Yes	Yes	52
ITW	Illinois Tool Works	Industrials	Yes		44
JNJ	Johnson & Johnson	Health Care	Yes	Yes	57
KMB	Kimberly-Clark	Consumer Staples	Yes		47
LANC	Lancaster Colony Corporation	Consumer Staples		Yes	56
LEG	Leggett & Platt	Consumer Discretionary	Yes		46
LIN	Linde plc	Materials	Yes		25
LOW	Lowe’s Companies, Inc.	Consumer Discretionary	Yes	Yes	55
MKC	McCormick & Company	Consumer Staples	Yes		33
MCD	McDonald’s	Consumer Discretionary	Yes		43
MDT	Medtronic	Health Care	Yes		41
NDSN	Nordson Corporation	Industrials		Yes	55
NWN	Northwest Natural Holding Company	Utilities		Yes	63
NUE	Nucor	Materials	Yes		46
O	Realty Income	Real Estate	Yes		25
PH	Parker-Hannifin Corporation	Industrials		Yes	62
PNR	Pentair	Industrials	Yes		42
PBCT	People’s United Financial	Financials	Yes		26
PEP	PepsiCo	Consumer Staples	Yes		46
PPG	PPG Industries	Materials	Yes		47
PG	Procter & Gamble	Consumer Staples	Yes	Yes	63
ROP	Roper Technologies	Industrials	Yes		26
SPGI	S&P Global (formerly McGraw Hill Financial, Inc.)	Financials	Yes		45
SHW	Sherwin-Williams	Materials	Yes		40
SJW	SJW Grroup (DE)	Utilities		Yes	51
SWK	Stanley Black & Decker Inc.	Industrials	Yes	Yes	51
SCL	Stepan Company	Materials		Yes	51
SYY	Sysco	Consumer Staples	Yes		49
TROW	T. Rowe Price	Financials	Yes		32
TGT	Target Corporation	Consumer Discretionary	Yes	Yes	51
CLX	The Clorox Company	Consumer Staples	Yes		41
TR	Tootsie Roll Industries Inc.	Consumer Staples		Yes	53
VFC	VF Corporation	Consumer Discretionary	Yes		46
GWW	W. W. Grainger	Industrials	Yes		48
WBA	Walgreens Boots Alliance	Consumer Staples	Yes		43
WMT	Walmart	Consumer Staples	Yes		45

Of the stocks lists above, the following 11 companies are both considered US Dividend Kings and Dividend Aristocrats:

• 3M Company (MMM) (60 years)
• Cincinnati Financial Corp (CINF) (59 years)
• Coca-Cola Co (KO) (57 years)
• Colgate-Palmolive (CL) (56 years)
• Dover Corp (DOV) (63 years)
• Emerson Electric (EMR) (62 years)
• Federal Realty Investment Trust (FRT) (51 years)
• Genuine Parts Company (GPC) (63 years)
• Hormel Foods Corp (HRL) (52 years)
• Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) (57 years)
• Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (LOW) (55 years)
• Procter & Gamble (PG) (63 years)
• Stanley Black & Decker Inc. (SWK) (51 years)
• Target Corporation (TGT) (51 years)

Wrapping up. What are your thoughts on the Dividend Aristocrats and Dividend Kings?

On the combined list, there are 68 stocks including the US Dividend Kings and S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats. These stocks can be an interesting first place to check for ideas to build a dividend portfolio. While there is no guaranty of future dividend payments, there’s a better probability of a continued trend if market conditions and company health hold.

Are you considering any of the stocks for your portfolio?

More Dividend Investing Ideas

• How to make $200 a month in dividends
• Using Dividend Snowball Investing to grow your investment portfolio and income
• Simple Dividend Calculator Spreadsheet

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