Updated on June 3rd, 2025 by Bob Ciura
Spreadsheet data updated daily
The Dividend Kings are the best-of-the-best in dividend longevity.
What is a Dividend King? A stock with 50 or more consecutive years of dividend increases.
The downloadable Dividend Kings Spreadsheet List below contains the following for each stock in the index among other important investing metrics:
- Payout ratio
- Dividend yield
- Price-to-earnings ratio
You can see the full downloadable spreadsheet of all 55 Dividend Kings (along with important financial metrics such as dividend yields, payout ratios, and price-to-earnings ratios) by clicking on the link below:
The Dividend Kings list includes recent additions such as RLI Corp. (RLI), Automatic Data Processing (ADP), Consolidated Edison (ED), and Kenvue (KVUE).
Each Dividend King satisfies the primary requirement to be a Dividend Aristocrat (25 years of consecutive dividend increases) twice over.
Not all Dividend Kings are Dividend Aristocrats.
This unexpected result is because the ‘only’ requirement to be a Dividend Kings is 50+ years of rising dividends.
On the other hand, Dividend Aristocrats must have 25+ years of rising dividends, be a member of the S&P 500 Index, and meet certain minimum size and liquidity requirements.
Table of Contents
- How To Use The Dividend Kings List To Find Dividend Stock Ideas
- The 5 Best Dividend Kings Today
#5: PPG Industries (PPG)
#4: PepsiCo Inc. (PEP)
#3: H2O America (HTO)
#2: Becton Dickinson & Co. (BDX)
#1: Stepan Co. (SCL) - The Dividend Kings In Focus Series
- Performance Of The Dividend Kings
- Sector & Market Capitalization Overview
- Final Thoughts
How To Use The Dividend Kings List to Find Dividend Stock Ideas
The Dividend Kings list is a great place to find dividend stock ideas. However, not all the stocks in the Dividend Kings list make a great investment at any given time.
Some stocks might be overvalued. Conversely, some might be undervalued – making great long-term holdings for dividend growth investors.
For those unfamiliar with Microsoft Excel, the following walk-through shows how to filter the Dividend Kings list for the stocks with the most attractive valuation based on the price-to-earnings ratio.
Step 1: Download the Dividend Kings Excel Spreadsheet.
Step 2: Follow the steps in the instructional video below. Note that we screen for price-to-earnings ratios of 15 or below in the video. You can choose any threshold that best defines ‘value’ for you.
Alternatively, following the instructions above and filtering for higher dividend yield Dividend Kings (yields of 2% or 3% or higher) will show stocks with 50+ years of rising dividends and above-average dividend yields.
Looking for businesses that have a long history of dividend increases isn’t a perfect way to identify stocks that will increase their dividends every year in the future, but there is considerable consistency in the Dividend Kings.
The 5 Best Dividend Kings Today
The following 5 stocks are our top-ranked Dividend Kings today, based on expected annual returns over the next 5 years. Stocks are ranked in order of lowest to highest expected annual returns.
Total returns include a combination of future earnings-per-share growth, dividends, and any changes in the P/E multiple.
Dividend King #5: PPG Industries (PPG)
- 5-Year Annual Expected Returns: 15.5%
PPG Industries is the world’s largest paints and coatings company. Its only competitors of similar size are Sherwin-Williams and Dutch paint company Akzo Nobel.
PPG Industries was founded in 1883 as a manufacturer and distributor of glass (its name stands for Pittsburgh Plate Glass) and today has approximately 3,500 technical employees located in more than 70 countries at 100 locations.
On April 29th, 2025, PPG Industries reported first quarter results for the period ending March 31st, 2025. For the quarter, revenue decreased 4.4% to $3.68 billion, but beat estimates by $20 million. Adjusted earnings-per-share of $1.72 compared unfavorably to adjusted earnings-per-share of $1.86 in the prior year.
Pricing was up slightly for the quarter while volume grew 1%. Currency exchange was a 3% headwind and divestitures reduced results by 2%. Revenue for Global Architectural Coatings, which was formerly part of Performance Coatings, decreased 11% to $857 million.
Volume declined 3% while pricing was up 1%. Currency exchange and divestitures reduced results by 7% and 2%, respectively. Performance Coatings grew 7% to $1.27 billion as a 6% improvement in volume and 3% contribution from pricing was offset by a 1% decrease from both currency translation and divestitures.
For 2025, the company expects adjusted earnings-per-share in a range of $7.75 to $8.05.
Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on PPG (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):
Dividend King #4: PepsiCo Inc. (PEP)
- 5-Year Annual Expected Returns: 17.8%
PepsiCo is a global food and beverage company. Its products include Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Frito-Lay chips, Gatorade, Tropicana orange juice and Quaker foods.
Its business is split roughly 60-40 in terms of food and beverage revenue. It is also balanced geographically between the U.S. and the rest of the world.
Source: Investor Presentation
On April 24th, 2025, PepsiCo reported first quarter earnings results for the period ending March 31st, 2025. For the quarter, revenue fell 1.8% to $17.9 billion, but this beat expectations by $190 million.
Adjusted earnings-per-share of $1.48 compared unfavorably to $1.61 the prior year and was $0.01 below estimates. Currency exchange reduced revenue by 3% and earnings-per-share by 4%.
Organic sales grew 1% for the first quarter. For the period, volume for beverages was flat while food decreased 3%. PepsiCo Beverages North America’s revenue grew 1% for the period even as volume was down 3%.
Revenue for Frito Lay North America declined 2% and volume declined 1%.
Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on PEP (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):
Dividend King #3: H2O America (HTO)
- 5-Year Annual Expected Returns: 18.9%
H2O America, formerly known as SJW Group, is a water utility company that produces, purchases, stores, purifies and distributes water to consumers and businesses in the Silicon Valley area of California, the area north of San Antonio, Texas, Connecticut, and Maine.
It also has a small real estate division that owns and develops properties for residential and warehouse customers in California and Tennessee. The company generates about $670 million in annual revenues.
On April 28th, 2025, HTO reported first quarter results for the period ending March 31st, 2025. For the quarter, revenue improved 18.2% to $176.6 million, which beat estimates by $16.1 million. Earnings-per-share of $0.50 compared favorably to earnings-per-share of $0.36 in the prior year and was $0.14 more than expected.
For the quarter, higher water rates overall added $17.2 million to results and higher customer usage added $1.0 million. Operating production expenses totaled $131.7 million, which was an 8% increase from the prior year. Most of the increase in expenses was once again related to higher water production costs.
Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on HTO (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):
Dividend King #2: Becton Dickinson & Co. (BDX)
- 5-Year Annual Expected Returns: 20.0%
Becton, Dickinson & Co. is a global leader in the medical supply industry. The company was founded in 1897 and has 75,000 employees across 190 countries.
The company generates about $20 billion in annual revenue, with approximately 43% of revenues coming from outside of the U.S.
Becton, Dickinson & Co., or BD, is a global leader in the medical supply industry. The company generates almost $22 billion in annual revenue, with approximately 43% of revenues coming from outside of the U.S.
BD is composed of three segments. Products sold by the Medical Division include needles for drug delivery systems, and surgical blades. The Life Sciences division provides products for the collection and transportation of diagnostic specimens. The Intervention segment includes several of the products produced by what used to be Bard.
On May 1st, 2025, BD reported results for the second quarter of fiscal year 2025, which ended March 31st, 2025. For the quarter, revenue grew 4.5% to $5.3 billion, which was $50 million less than expected.
On a currency neutral basis, revenue increased 6%. Adjusted earnings-per-share of $3.36 compared favorably to $3.17 in the prior year and was $0.07 above estimates.
For the quarter, U.S. grew 7% while international was up 1.2% on a reported basis. Excluding currency exchange, international was higher by 4.8%. Organic growth was up 0.7% for the period.
Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on BDX (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):
Dividend King #1: Stepan Co. (SCL)
- 5-Year Annual Expected Returns: 20.0%
Stepan manufactures basic and intermediate chemicals, including surfactants, specialty products, germicidal and fabric softening quaternaries, phthalic anhydride, polyurethane polyols and special ingredients for the food, supplement, and pharmaceutical markets.
It is organized into three distinct business lines: surfactants, polymers, and specialty products. These businesses serve a wide variety of end markets, meaning that Stepan is not beholden to just a handful of industries.
Source: Investor presentation
The surfactants business is Stepan’s largest by revenue, accounting for ~68% of total sales in the most recent quarter. A surfactant is an organic compound that contains both water-soluble and water-insoluble components.
Stepan posted first quarter earnings on April 29th, 2025, and results were better than expected on both the top and bottom lines, and by wide margins for both. Adjusted earnings-per-share came to 84 cents, 24 cents better than estimates. Revenue was up almost 8% year-over-year to $593 million, beating estimates by $31 million.
Global sales volumes were up 4% year-over-year. Revenue for surfactants was up 10% to $430 million, driven by 3% volume growth and pricing improvements. The agricultural and oilfield end markets were up in the double-digits.
Polymers revenue was stable at $146 million, with a 7% volume increase offset by a 7% decline in pricing due to lower raw material costs, and competitive pressures. Specialty products revenue was up 11%, supported by higher pricing and volume growth in medium chain triglycerides.
Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on SCL (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):
The Dividend Kings In Focus Series
You can see analysis on every single Dividend King below. The newest Sure Analysis Research Database report for each security is included as well.
Consumer Staples
- Altria Group (MO) | [See newest Sure Analysis report]
- Archer-Daniels-Midland (ADM) | [See newest Sure Analysis report]
- Colgate-Palmolive (CL) | [See newest Sure Analysis report]
- Coca-Cola (KO) | [See newest Sure Analysis report]
- Hormel Foods (HRL) | [See newest Sure Analysis report]
- Kimberly-Clark (KMB) | [See newest Sure Analysis report]
- Lancaster Colony (LANC) | [See newest Sure Analysis report]
- PepsiCo (PEP) | [See newest Sure Analysis report]
- Procter & Gamble (PG) [See newest Sure Analysis report]
- Sysco Corporation (SYY) | [See newest Sure Analysis report]
- Target Corporation (TGT) | [See newest Sure Analysis report]
- Tootsie Roll Industries (TR) | [See newest Sure Analysis report]
- Universal Corporation (UVV) | [See newest Sure Analysis report]
- Walmart (WMT) | [See newest Sure Analysis report]
Industrials
- ABM Industries (ABM) | [See newest Sure Analysis report]
- Automatic Data Processing (ADP) | [See newest Sure Analysis report]
- Dover (DOV) | [See newest Sure Analysis report]
- Emerson Electric (EMR) | [See newest Sure Analysis report]
- Gorman-Rupp Co. (GRC) | [See newest Sure Analysis report]
- Illinois Tool Works (ITW) | [See newest Sure Analysis report]
- MSA Safety (MSA) | [See newest Sure Analysis report]
- Nordson Corporation (NDSN) | [See newest Sure Analysis report]
- Parker-Hannifin (PH) | [See newest Sure Analysis report]
- Stanley Black & Decker (SWK) | [See newest Sure Analysis report]
- Tennant Co. (TNC) | [See newest Sure Analysis report]
- W.W. Grainger (GWW) | [See newest Sure Analysis report]
Health Care
- Abbott Laboratories (ABT) | [See newest Sure Analysis report]
- AbbVie Inc. (ABBV) | [See newest Sure Analysis report]
- Becton, Dickinson & Company (BDX) | [See newest Sure Analysis report]
- Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) | [See newest Sure Analysis report]
- Kenvue Inc. (KVUE) | [See newest Sure Analysis report]
Consumer Discretionary
- Genuine Parts Company (GPC) | [See newest Sure Analysis report]
- Lowe’s Companies (LOW) | [See newest Sure Analysis report]
Financials
- Commerce Bancshares Inc. (CBSH) | [See newest Sure Analysis report]
- Cincinnati Financial (CINF) | [See newest Sure Analysis report]
- Farmers & Merchants Bancorp (FMCB) | [See newest Sure Analysis report]
- RLI Corp. (RLI) | [See newest Sure Analysis report]
- S&P Global (SPGI) | [See newest Sure Analysis report]
- United Bankshares (UBSI) | [See newest Sure Analysis report]
Materials
- H.B. Fuller (FUL) | [See newest Sure Analysis report]
- PPG Industries (PPG) | [See newest Sure Analysis report]
- Nucor (NUE) | [See newest Sure Analysis report]
- RPM International (RPM) | [See newest Sure Analysis report]
- Stepan Co. (SCL) | [See newest Sure Analysis report]
Energy
Real Estate
Utilities
- American States Water (AWR) | [See newest Sure Analysis report]
- Black Hills Corp. (BKH) | [See newest Sure Analysis report]
- California Water Service Group (CWT) | [See newest Sure Analysis report]
- Canadian Utilities (CDUAF) | [See newest Sure Analysis report]
- Consolidated Edison (ED) | [See newest Sure Analysis report]
- Fortis Inc. (FTS) | [See newest Sure Analysis report]
- Middlesex Water Company (MSEX) | [See newest Sure Analysis report]
- Northwest Natural Holding (NWN) | [See newest Sure Analysis report]
- H2O America (HTO) | [See newest Sure Analysis report]
Performance Of The Dividend Kings
The Dividend Kings under-performed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) in May 2025. Return data for the month is shown below:
- Dividend Kings May 2025 total return: 3.0%
- SPY May 2025 total return: 6.3%
Stable dividend growers like the Dividend Kings tend to underperform in bull markets and outperform on a relative basis during bear markets.
The Dividend Kings are not officially regulated and monitored by any one company. There’s no Dividend King ETF. This means that tracking the historical performance of the Dividend Kings can be difficult.
More specifically, performance tracking of the Dividend Kings often introduces significant survivorship bias.
Survivorship bias occurs when one looks at only the companies that ‘survived’ the time period in question. In the case of Dividend Kings, this means that the performance study does not include ex-Kings that reduced their dividend, were acquired, etc.
But with that said, there is something to be gained from investigating the historical performance of the Dividend Kings. Specifically, the performance of the Dividend Kings shows that ‘boring’ established blue-chip stocks that increase their dividend year-after-year can significantly outperform over long periods of time.
Notes: S&P 500 performance is measured using the S&P 500 ETF (SPY). The Dividend Kings performance is calculated using an equal weighted portfolio of today’s Dividend Kings, rebalanced annually. Due to insufficient data, Farmers & Merchants Bancorp (FMCB) returns are from 2000 onward. Performance excludes previous Dividend Kings that ended their streak of dividend increases which creates notable lookback/survivorship bias. The data for this study is from Ycharts.
In the next section of this article, we will provide an overview of the sector and market capitalization characteristics of the Dividend Kings.
Sector & Market Capitalization Overview
The sector and market capitalization characteristics of the Dividend Kings are very different from the characteristics of the broader stock market.
The following bullet points show the number of Dividend Kings in each sector of the stock market.
- Consumer Staples: 14
- Industrials: 12
- Utilities: 9
- Consumer Discretionary: 2
- Health Care: 5
- Financials: 6
- Materials: 5
- Real Estate: 1
- Energy: 1
- Communication Services: 0
The Dividend Kings are overweight in the Industrials, Consumer Staples, and Utilities sectors. Interestingly, The Dividend Kings have zero stocks from the Information Technology sector, which is the largest component of the S&P 500 index.
The Dividend Kings also have some interesting characteristics with respect to market capitalization. These trends are illustrated below.
- 6 Mega caps ($200 billion+ market cap; ABT, ABBV, JNJ, PG, KO, WMT)
- 26 Large caps ($10 billion to $200 billion market cap)
- 15 Mid caps ($2 billion to $10 billion)
- 8 Small caps ($300 million to $2 billion)
Interestingly, 24 out of the 55 Dividend Kings have market capitalizations below $10 billion. This shows that corporate longevity doesn’t have to be accompanied by massive size.
Final Thoughts
Screening to find the best Dividend Kings is not the only way to find high-quality dividend growth stock ideas.
Sure Dividend maintains similar databases on the following useful universes of stocks:
- The High Yield Dividend Kings List is comprised of the 20 Dividend Kings with the highest current yields.
- The Dividend Aristocrats: S&P 500 stocks with 25+ years of consecutive dividend increases.
- The Complete List of High Dividend Stocks: Stocks with 5%+ dividend yields.
- The Complete List of Monthly Dividend Stocks: our database currently contains roughly 80 stocks that pay dividends every month.
There is nothing magical about investing in the Dividend Kings. They are simply a group of high-quality businesses with shareholder-friendly management teams that have strong competitive advantages.
Purchasing businesses with these characteristics at fair or better prices and holding them for long periods of time will likely result in strong long-term investment performance.