A dividend king is a company that has managed to increase dividends to shareholders for at least 50 years in a row.
Q3 2019 hedge fund letters, conferences and more
There are only 28 such companies in the US, and perhaps a couple more in the rest of the world. It is not a small achievement to have been able to reward long-term shareholders with a dividend raise for over half a century.
Over the past 50 years, some calamities experienced include:
- Seven Recessions since 1967
- The Vietnam War
- The oil crisis in the 1970s
- Stagflationary 1970s
- Double digit interest rates in the 1980s
- Fall of the Soviet Union in 1991
- 9/11 in 2001
- The Dot-com bubble bursting in 2000
- The housing bubble bursting in 2007 – 2008
- ZIRP and NIRP since 2009
Throughout this calamity each of those businesses managed to grow earnings, and raise the dividend to their long-term shareholders. If you are looking for a long-term shareholder base, the best way to build it is by paying those owners more every single year. This is a simple, but novel idea for corporations to embrace.
We had three new additions to the list in 2019, and one company that left the list. These actions brought the number of companies to 28. This is a record since we started tracking the list of dividend kings in 2010.
When I first came up with the idea for the list of dividend kings in 2010, there were only eleven companies on it. While our 2019 list also included 28 companies, I had to remove Target for now, since its streak of annual dividend increases was only 48 years. I am pretty confident that the retailer will hit 50 years in a row by the end of the decade. Other websites show Target as a dividend king, when its press releases and the dividend history on its website show a 48 year track record of annual dividend increases.
The new addition for the current year include:
- Altria Group (MO)
- H.B. Fuller Company (FUL)
- Sysco (SYY)
These were consistent with my predictions from last year. It is a testament to the predictable nature of their businesses, not in my forecasting abilities.
The company that left the list in 2019 includes Vectren (VVC), acquired by Centerpoint in January 2019. This is the second company to leave the list of dividend kings since I started monitoring it in 2010.
I did some research on historical changes of the Dividend Kings list, which you may find interesting. I reviewed the evolution of the dividend kings prior to 2007 in the article, which has not been done by anyone else.
The companies in the 2019 dividend kings list include:
| Company Name | Symbol | Sector | Years Dividend Increases | 10 Year Annualized Dividend Growth | Dividend Yield | Share Price |
| ABM Industries Inc. | ABM | Industrials | 52 | 3.42% | 1.92% | 38.50 |
| American States Water | AWR | Utilities | 65 | 7.80% | 1.40% | 86.90 |
| Commerce Bancshares | CBSH | Financials | 51 | 4.86% | 1.45% | 68.20 |
| Cincinnati Financial | CINF | Financials | 59 | 3.20% | 2.16% | 103.90 |
| Colgate-Palmolive Co. | CL | Consumer Staples | 57 | 7.85% | 2.49% | 69.18 |
| California Water Service | CWT | Utilities | 52 | 2.54% | 1.53% | 51.52 |
| Dover Corp. | DOV | Industrials | 64 | 9.72% | 1.70% | 115.47 |
| Emerson Electric | EMR | Industrials | 63 | 4.69% | 2.61% | 76.51 |
| Farmers & Merchants Bancorp | FMCB | Financials | 55 | 3.14% | 1.85% | 773.96 |
| Federal Realty Inv. Trust | FRT | Real Estate | 52 | 4.95% | 3.28% | 128.15 |
| H.B. Fuller Company | FUL | Materials | 50 | 8.89% | 1.23% | 51.83 |
| Genuine Parts Co. | GPC | Consumer Discretionary | 63 | 6.33% | 2.87% | 106.24 |
| Hormel Foods Corp. | HRL | Consumer Staples | 54 | 15.02% | 2.05% | 45.26 |
| Johnson & Johnson | JNJ | Health Care | 57 | 7.03% | 2.61% | 145.75 |
| Coca-Cola Company | KO | Consumer Staples | 57 | 7.46% | 2.89% | 55.35 |
| Lancaster Colony Corp. | LANC | Consumer Staples | 57 | 8.09% | 1.75% | 160.39 |
| Lowe’s Companies | LOW | Consumer Discretionary | 57 | 18.36% | 1.83% | 120.23 |
| 3M Company | MMM | Industrials | 61 | 10.52% | 3.25% | 177.26 |
| Altria Group Inc. | MO | Consumer Staples | 50 | 9.46% | 6.67% | 50.40 |
| Nordson Corp. | NDSN | Industrials | 56 | 13.10% | 0.93% | 162.80 |
| Northwest Natural Gas | NWN | Utilities | 64 | 2.22% | 2.63% | 72.56 |
| Procter & Gamble Co. | PG | Consumer Staples | 63 | 6.25% | 2.36% | 126.09 |
| Parker-Hannifin Corp. | PH | Industrials | 63 | 12.32% | 1.70% | 207.00 |
| Stepan Company | SCL | Materials | 52 | 8.09% | 1.10% | 99.93 |
| SJW Corp. | SJW | Utilities | 51 | 5.69% | 1.68% | 71.61 |
| Stanley Black & Decker | SWK | Industrials | 52 | 7.43% | 1.66% | 165.90 |
| Sysco Corp. | SYY | Consumer Staples | 50 | 5.05% | 2.10% | 85.74 |
| Tootsie Roll Industries | TR | Consumer Staples | 53 | 4.45% | 1.04% | 34.73 |
Note: The prices and yields are as of December 29th, 2019.
There are three companies which are set to potentially join the elite list of dividend kings by the end of 2020. These companies have a 49 year record of annual dividend increases:
- Black Hills Corp (BKH)
- MSA Safety (MSA)
- National Fuel Gas (NFG)
This track record is a testament to the stability of the underlying businesses that generated the earnings growth necessary to grow the dividend for half a century (and longer). This track record is an indication of a business that is relatively immune to outside shocks. This resilience throughout the period manifests itself into the long stretch of dividend increases, spanning over half a century.
While these companies are not investment recommendations, I post them as examples for further study by serious dividend investors. Studying the businesses, their industries, could give you clues as to the type of business that can flourish over a half of a century.
As I mentioned above, I have been compiling the list of dividend kings since 2010. To view the historical changes in the list, please follow the links below:
- Dividend Kings List For 2019
- 2018 Dividend Kings List
- Dividend Kings List for 2017
- Dividend Kings for 2016
- Dividend Kings List for 2015
- The Dividend Kings List for 2014
- The Dividend Kings List Keeps Expanding in 2013
- Eleven Dividend Kings, Raising dividends for 50+ years
- Ten Dividend Kings raising dividends for over 50 years
Article by Dividend Growth Investor
