Investors like dividend aristocrats, companies that have increased their dividends every year for 25 years or longer, Morningstar investment specialist Susan Dziubinski writes in a new blog post.
Investors often buy them, Dziubinski said, because they expect companies with a history of dividend growth to maintain that growth. Moreover, dividend aristocrats are mature companies with enough earnings to continue their dividend increases, and they are run by management teams that prioritize dividends in the capital structure.
At present, some 60 dividend aristocrats are included in the S&P 500 Index.
Dziubinski noted, however, that dividend aristocrats sometimes cut their dividend. Last year, Walgreens Boots Alliance departed the cohort when it cut its dividend nearly in half.
Investors can avoid dividend aristocrats that may be more likely to cut their dividends by choosing companies with wide economic moats, as they are less likely to do so than those with narrow moats, according to Morningstar Indexes strategist Dan Lefkovitz.
An economic moat represents a company’s competitive advantage. Wide-moat companies can ward off competition for 20 years or more, while narrow-moat ones can do so for 10 years.
“No-moat businesses are most likely to cut [dividends],” Lefkovitz said.
Dziubinski said that Morningstar conducted the following screens to develop its list of the best dividend aristocrats to buy:
- Dividend stocks included in the ProShares S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats ETF
- Dividend aristocrats with Morningstar economic moat ratings of narrow or wide
The list includes dividend aristocrats from the screen that were trading at the largest discounts to Morningstar’s fair value estimates as of April 18.
See the accompanying gallery for the 10 best undervalued stocks that have grown their dividends for at least 25 consecutive years. Year-to-date performance is as of April 24.
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