S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats

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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