Dividend Aristocrats List for 2021

 The S&P Dividend Aristocrats index tracks companies in the S&P 500 that have increased dividends every year for at least 25 years in a row. The index is equally weighted, and rebalanced every quarter.

To qualify for membership in the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats index, a stock must satisfy the following criteria:

1. Be a member of the S&P 500
2. Have increased dividends every year for at least 25 consecutive years
3. Meet minimum float-adjusted market capitalization and liquidity requirements defined in the index inclusion and index exclusion rules below.

The group of companies in the Dividend Aristocrats index tend to generate reliable dividend income, and provide the potential for strong total returns. The list is well diversified across sectors.

There are 65 companies in the Dividend Aristocrats index for 2021.

For 2021, there were several changes. The index added:

- International Business Machines (IBM)

- NextEra Energy (NEE)

- West Pharmaceutical Services (WST)

The index removed:

- Raytheon Technologies (RTX)

- Otis (OTIS)

- Carrier (CARR)

- Ross Stores (ROST)

In 2020, United Technologies spun-off Carrier (CARR) and Otis Elevator (OTIS), before merging with Raytheon to form Raytheon Technologies (RTX). Because the overall amount of annual dividend income was lower after the transactions than before, the S&P committee eliminated the descendands of United Technologies from its list.

Since the inception of the index in 1989, the number of holdings has fluctuated from 26 to 65 holdings. It is still not even half the number of Dividend Champions however.


The 2021 Dividend Aristocrats are listed below:

Symbol	Name	Sector	Years of Annual Dividend Increases	10 year Dividend   Growth	Dividend Yield
ABBV	AbbVie Inc.	Health Care	48	18.50%	4.85%
ABT	Abbott Laboratories**	Health Care	48	5.73%	1.64%
ADM	Archer-Daniels-Midland Co	Consumer Staples	45	9.15%	2.86%
ADP	Automatic Data Processing	Information Technology	46	11.85%	2.11%
AFL	AFLAC Inc	Financials	38	6.99%	2.97%
ALB	Albemarle Corp.	Materials	26	10.52%	1.04%
AMCR	Amcor	Materials	26	#N/A	0.90%
AOS	Smith A.O. Corp	Industrials	27	21.92%	1.90%
APD	Air Products & Chemicals Inc	Materials	39	10.43%	1.96%
ATO	Atmos Energy	Utilities	37	5.74%	2.62%
BDX	Becton Dickinson & Co	Health Care	49	8.02%	1.33%
BEN	Franklin Resources Inc	Financials	41	13.92%	4.48%
BF.B	Brown-Forman Corp B	Consumer Staples	37	8.10%	0.90%
CAH	Cardinal Health Inc	Health Care	25	10.08%	3.63%
CAT	Caterpillar Inc	Industrials	27	9.13%	2.26%
CB	Chubb Ltd	Financials	27	9.11%	2.03%
CINF	Cincinnati Financial Corp	Financials	60	4.06%	2.75%
CL	Colgate-Palmolive Co	Consumer Staples	57	5.60%	2.06%
CLX	Clorox Co	Consumer Staples	43	7.53%	2.20%
CTAS	Cintas Corp	Industrials	38	19.33%	0.79%
CVX	Chevron Corp	Energy	34	6.21%	6.11%
DOV	Dover Corp	Industrials	65	8.22%	1.57%
ECL	Ecolab Inc	Materials	29	11.73%	0.89%
ED	Consolidated Edison Inc	Utilities	47	2.54%	4.23%
EMR	Emerson Electric Co	Industrials	64	4.03%	2.51%
ESS	Essex Property Trust	Real Estate	26	7.08%	3.50%
EXPD	Expeditors International	Industrials	26	10.03%	1.09%
FRT	Federal Realty Invt Trust	Real Estate	53	4.74%	4.98%
GD	General Dynamics	Industrials	29	10.17%	2.96%
GPC	Genuine Parts Co	Consumer Discretionary	64	6.75%	3.15%
GWW	Grainger W.W. Inc	Industrials	49	11.06%	1.50%
HRL	Hormel Foods Corp	Consumer Staples	55	16.04%	2.10%
IBM	Intl Business Machines	Information Technology	25	10.04%	5.18%
ITW	Illinois Tool Works Inc	Industrials	46	13.10%	2.24%
JNJ	Johnson & Johnson	Health Care	58	6.55%	2.57%
KMB	Kimberly-Clark	Consumer Staples	49	5.54%	3.17%
KO	Coca-Cola Co	Consumer Staples	58	6.42%	2.99%
LEG	Leggett & Platt	Consumer Discretionary	49	4.30%	3.61%
LIN	Linde plc	Materials	27	7.90%	1.46%
LOW	Lowe's Cos Inc	Consumer Discretionary	58	18.85%	1.50%
MCD	McDonald's Corp	Consumer Discretionary	45	8.35%	2.40%
MDT	Medtronic plc	Health Care	43	10.05%	1.98%
MKC	McCormick & Co	Consumer Staples	35	9.08%	2.85%
MMM	3M Co	Industrials	62	10.84%	3.36%
NEE	NextEra Energy	Utilities	26	10.84%	1.81%
NUE	Nucor Corp	Materials	48	1.12%	3.05%
O	Realty Income Corp.	Real Estate	26	4.93%	4.53%
PBCT	People's United Financial	Financials	28	1.51%	5.57%
PEP	PepsiCo Inc	Consumer Staples	48	7.84%	2.76%
PG	Procter & Gamble	Consumer Staples	64	5.16%	2.27%
PNR	Pentair PLC	Industrials	45	4.06%	1.51%
PPG	PPG Industries Inc	Materials	49	6.78%	1.50%
ROP	Roper Technologies, Inc	Industrials	28	18.36%	0.52%
SHW	Sherwin-Williams Co	Materials	42	14.05%	0.73%
SPGI	S&P Global	Financials	47	11.05%	0.82%
SWK	Stanley Black & Decker	Industrials	53	7.57%	1.57%
SYY	Sysco Corp	Consumer Staples	51	6.05%	2.42%
T	AT&T Inc	Communication Services	37	2.16%	7.23%
TGT	Target Corp	Consumer Discretionary	53	12.30%	1.54%
TROW	T Rowe Price Group Inc	Financials	34	12.79%	2.38%
VFC	VF Corp	Consumer Discretionary	48	12.94%	2.29%
WBA	Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc	Consumer Staples	45	11.46%	4.69%
WMT	Wal-Mart	Consumer Staples	47	6.18%	1.50%
WST	West Pharmaceutical Services	Health Care	28	7.18%	0.24%
XOM	Exxon Mobil Corp	Energy	38	7.18%	8.44%

The index has generated strong total returns over time past decade. I wanted to note that in 2008, the Dividend Aristocrats index declined by 21.88%. The S&P 500 however declined by 37%.

The dividend aristocrats index tends to shine during bear markets and low return environments. However, it also pulls its weight when we are in a bull market too. It is the best of both worlds really.

These are the returns since the launch of the Dividend Aristocrats Index in 1989:

Year	Dividend Aristocrats	S&P   500	Relative Performance
1990	5.70%	-3.10%	8.80%
1991	38.50%	30.50%	8.00%
1992	10.10%	7.60%	2.50%
1993	4.30%	10.10%	-5.80%
1994	0.90%	1.40%	-0.50%
1995	34.60%	37.60%	-3.00%
1996	20.90%	23.00%	-2.10%
1997	35.50%	33.40%	2.10%
1998	16.80%	28.60%	-11.80%
1999	-5.40%	21.00%	-26.40%
2000	10.10%	-9.10%	19.20%
2001	10.80%	-11.90%	22.70%
2002	-9.90%	-22.10%	12.20%
2003	25.40%	28.70%	-3.30%
2004	15.50%	10.90%	4.60%
2005	3.70%	4.90%	-1.20%
2006	17.30%	15.80%	1.50%
2007	-2.10%	5.50%	-7.60%
2008	-21.90%	-37.00%	15.10%
2009	26.60%	26.50%	0.10%
2010	19.35%	15.06%	4.29%
2011	8.33%	2.11%	6.22%
2012	16.94%	16.00%	0.94%
2013	32.27%	32.39%	-0.12%
2014	15.76%	13.69%	2.07%
2015	0.93%	1.38%	-0.45%
2016	11.83%	11.96%	-0.13%
2017	21.73%	21.83%	-0.10%
2018	-2.73%	-4.38%	1.65%
2019	27.97%	31.49%	-3.52%
2020	8.68%	18.40%	-9.72%

You can see the performance of the Dividend Aristocrats Index versus S&P 500 since 1989. The S&P 500 dominated during the 1990's. However, the Dividend Aristocrats index did very well during the next decade. During the past decade, the Dividend Aristocrats Index has done better as well.

I first stumbled upon the Dividend Aristocrats index in late 2007, and instantly understood why dividend growth investing is such a powerful wealth generating tool. If someone had invested in the Dividend Aristocrats index after reading my review of the list at the beginning of 2008, they would have tripled their money. 

An investment in the dividend aristocrats a decade ago, would have resulted in a total return of 263.88%. In other words, investing $100 in the Dividend Aristocrats list in January 2011 would have turned into $363.88. The same amount investing in S&P 500 would have turned into $375.64 however.

As I gained more experience however, I have gravitated more towards the Dividend Champions list, which was created by Dave Fish. The Dividend Champions list is more complete, as it doesn’t exclude companies due to low liquidity, or due to market capitalization below a certain threshold. In addition, I find that historically, the list of Dividend Champions has followed a more consistent approach than the list of Dividend Aristocrats. Sadly, Dave passed away last year. Luckily, another person has agreed to update it for the time being. You can view the 2021 Dividend Champions List here.

When I review the list of historical changes in the Dividend Aristocrats index, I see some inconsistencies in the way portfolio components are added or removed.

For example, the Dividend Aristocrats index removed Altria in 2007, after it spun-off Kraft Foods and as a result its dividend decreased. It could be argued that the dividend income for the investor was not decreased, because they kept getting a dividend from Altria as well as dividends from Kraft Foods.

The S&P committee seems to have rectified this issue, and have kept both Abbott and Abbvie after legacy Abbott Laboratories split in two companies in early 2013.

Ironically, Dave Fish had Altria listed as a Dividend Champion. However, he didn’t have Abbott nor Abbvie listed as a dividend champion ( they are listed as Dividend Aristocrats however).

Last year, I found out that Cardinal Health (CAH) has only been able to grow dividends for 23 years in a row. This is why it is not on the dividend champions list. The dividend aristocrats list however has a 31 year streak of annual dividend increases listed.

This is why you need to perform your own checks as an investor.

In addition, I wanted to let you know that I would not purchase all companies from either lists blindly. I run my entry criteria screen to come up with a list of companies for further research. Before investing in any individual stock, I research it enough to gain some understanding of the business and its trends in fundamentals.

Relevant Articles:

- Dividend Champions, Contenders & Challengers: The most complete list of US dividend growth stocks available
- Dividend Aristocrats List for 2017
- Dividend Aristocrats for Dividend Growth and Total Returns
- Where are the original Dividend Aristocrats now?
- Historical changes of the S&P Dividend Aristocrats
- Why do I like the Dividend Aristocrats?
- Dividend Aristocrats List for 2016