2022 Dividend Kings List | Updated Daily | All 48 Analyzed

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2022 Dividend Kings List | Updated Daily | All 48 Analyzed


Updated on November 2nd, 2022 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:

You can see the full downloadable spreadsheet of all 48 Dividend Kings (along with important financial metrics such as dividend yields, payout ratios, and price-to-earnings ratios) by clicking on the link below:

 

Click here to instantly download your free spreadsheet of all Dividend Kings now, along with important investing metrics.

The Dividend Kings list includes recent additions such as V.F. Corp. (VFC), Gorman-Rupp (GRC), Middlesex Water Company (MSEX), Canadian Utilities (CDUAF), and Tennant Company (TNC).

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 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.

Dividend Kings PE Screen

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: Leggett & Platt (LEG)

Leggett & Platt is a diversified manufacturing company. It is composed of three major segments with a varied product mix and geographic split.

The bedding products segment designs and manufactures bedding components such as bedding industry machinery, steel wire, adjustable beds, and mattress springs.

The specialized products segment revolves around automotive, aerospace, and hydraulic cylinder components. Some product examples would be seat support and lumbar systems, motors and cables, tubing, and hydraulic cylinders. This segment represents 20% of 2022 expected net trade sales.

The furniture, flooring and textile products segment focuses on home furniture, work furniture and flood and textiles. These three segments account for 50%, 20%, and 30% of 2022 expected net trade sales, respectively.

Source: Investor Presentation

Leggett & Platt reported second quarter 2022 earnings results on August 2nd, 2022. Revenue for the quarter of $1.33 billion rose 5% year-over-year. Earnings-per-share of $0.70 was down 11% from the same prior year period.

Leadership lowered its fiscal 2022 outlook once again, in October, and forecasts sales of $5.1 billion to $5.2 billion, which resulted in a large share price decline. Earnings-per-share is expected to be between $2.30 and $2.45 (compared to $2.65 and $2.80 previously).

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on Leggett & Platt (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Dividend King #4: Tennant Company (TNC)

Tennant Company is a machinery company that produces cleaning products and offers cleaning solutions to its customers. In the US, the company holds the market leadership position in its industry, but the company also sells its products in more than 100 additional countries around the globe. Tennant was founded in 1870.

Tennant Company reported its second-quarter earnings results on August 9th. The company generated revenues of $280 million during the quarter, which was 0.4% higher year-over-year. Revenue was also up sequentially.

Tennant Company generated adjusted earnings-per-share of $0.92 during the quarter, which was a 22% decrease compared to $1.18 in Q2 2021.

Source: Investor Presentation

Management is forecasting that adjusted earnings-per-share will fall into a range of $4.15 to $4.75 in 2022, which would be an improvement at the midpoint versus 2021, and which means new record profits for the current year.

Tennant has plans to grow its sales inorganically, especially in the Asia/Pacific region, where it benefits from above-average market growth rates. The takeover of Chinese cleaning equipment company Gaomei improves Tennant’s sales outlook in the Chinese market, as well as in other Asian markets, over the next couple of years.

We expect 6% annual earnings-per-share growth over the next five years for Tennant. In addition to an expanding valuation multiple and the 1.8% dividend yield, total returns are expected to reach 14% per year over the next five years.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on TNC (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Dividend King #3: Lowe’s Companies (LOW)

Lowe’s Companies is the second-largest home improvement retailer in the US (after Home Depot). Lowe’s operates or services more than 2,200 home improvement and hardware stores in the U.S. and Canada.

In August, the company reported quarterly financial results. Revenue of $27.48 billion declined 0.3% year-over-year, and missed estimates by $680 million.

Comparable sales fell 0.3%, while U.S. comparable sales increased 0.2%. During the quarter, the company repurchased approximately 21.6 million shares for $4.0 billion, and it paid $524 million in dividends.

The company provided a fiscal 2022 outlook and believes they can achieve diluted EPS in the range of $13.10 to $13.60 on total sales of roughly $98 billion. Lowe’s expects to repurchase $12 billion worth of common shares in 2022.

The combination of multiple expansion, 6% expected EPS growth and the 2.2% dividend yield lead to total expected returns of 14.1% per year.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on Lowe’s (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Dividend King #2: 3M Company (MMM)

3M sells more than 60,000 products that are used every day in homes, hospitals, office buildings and schools around the world. It has about 95,000 employees and serves customers in more than 200 countries.

3M is now composed of four separate divisions. The Safety & Industrial division produces tapes, abrasives, adhesives, and supply chain management software as well as manufactures personal protective gear and security products.

The Healthcare segment supplies medical and surgical products as well as drug delivery systems. The Transportation & Electronics division produces fibers and circuits with a goal of using renewable energy sources while reducing costs. The Consumer division sells office supplies, home improvement products, protective materials, and stationary supplies.

Source: Investor Presentation

On July 26th, 2022, 3M reported second quarter earnings results for the period ending June 30th, 2022. Revenue decreased 2.8% to $8.7 billion, but was in-line with expectations. Adjusted earnings-per-share of $2.48 compared to $2.59 in the prior year, but was $0.04 above estimates. Organic growth for the quarter was 1% as a stronger U.S. dollar weighed.

The company also announced that it would be spinning off its Health Care segment, which would have had $8.6 billion of revenue in 2021. The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2023.

We expect 15.2% annual returns for 3M stock, driven by 5% expected EPS growth, the 5% dividend yield, and a ~5.2% boost from an expanding P/E multiple.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on 3M (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Dividend King #1: V.F. Corp. (VFC)

V.F. Corporation is one of the world’s largest apparel, footwear and accessories companies. The company’s brands include The North Face, Vans, Timberland and Dickies. The company, which has been in existence since 1899, generated over $11 billion in sales in the last year.

On October 26th, 2022, V.F. Corp announced a $0.51 quarterly dividend, a 2.0% year-over-year increase, which marks the company’s 50th consecutive year of increasing its payout.

In late October, V.F. Corp reported (10/26/22) financial results for the second quarter of fiscal 2023. (V.F. Corp’s fiscal year ends the Saturday closest to March 31st.) Revenue dipped -4% and adjusted earnings-per-share plunged -24%, from $1.11 to $0.73, due to high cost inflation, great discounts offered to customers amid high inventories and lockdowns in China. V.F. Corp expects revenue growth of 5%-6% but lowered its guidance for adjusted earnings-per-share once again, from $3.05-$3.15 to $2.40-$2.50.

We expect 7% annual EPS growth over the next five years. VFC stock also has a dividend yield of 7.1%. Annual returns from an expanding P/E multiple are estimated at ~7.1%, equaling total expected annual returns of 21.2% through 2027.

Click here to download our most recent Sure Analysis report on V.F. Corp. (preview of page 1 of 3 shown below):

Analysis Reports On All 48 Dividend Kings

All 48 Dividend Kings are listed below by sector. You can access detailed coverage of each by clicking on the name of each Dividend King. Additionally, you can download our newest Sure Analysis Research Database report for each Dividend King as well.

Basic Materials

Consumer Discretionary

Consumer Staples

Energy

Financial Services

Healthcare

Industrial

Real Estate

Technology

Utilities

Performance Of The Dividend Kings

The Dividend Kings outperformed versus the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) in October 2022. Return data for the month is shown below:

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.

The Dividend Kings are overweight in the Industrials, Consumer Staples, and Utilities sectors. Interestingly, The Dividend Kings have just one stock 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.

Interestingly, 22 out of the 48 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:

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.

The most appealing part of investing is that you have unlimited choice. You can buy into mediocre businesses, or just the excellent companies.

As Warren Buffett says:

“When we own portions of outstanding businesses with outstanding managements, our favorite holding period is forever.”

– Warren Buffett

 

Click here to instantly download your free spreadsheet of all Dividend Kings now, along with important investing metrics.

Thanks for reading this article. Please send any feedback, corrections, or questions to support@suredividend.com.


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