2022 Dividend Kings List | Updated Daily

Updated on August 3rd, 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:

Payout ratio
Dividend yield
Price-to-earnings ratio

You can see the full downloadable spreadsheet of all 45 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 download my Dividend Kings Excel Spreadsheet now. Keep reading this article to learn more.

The Dividend Kings list includes recent additions such as Canadian Utilities (CDUAF), Tennant Company (TNC), PepsiCo (PEP), Kimberly-Clark (KMB), Abbott Laboratories (ABT), AbbVie (ABBV), Leggett & Platt (LEG), and W.W. Grainger (GWW).

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.

How To Use The Dividend Kings List To Find Dividend Stock Ideas
The 5 Best Dividend Kings Today
#5: Cincinnati Financial (CINF)
#4: Parker-Hannifin (PH)
#3: Computer Services (CSVI)
#2: Lowe’s Companies (LOW)
#1: 3M Company (MMM)
Analysis Reports On All 45 Dividend Kings
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.

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: Cincinnati Financial (CINF)

5-Year Annual Expected Returns: 12.1%

Cincinnati Financial is an insurance stock. It offers business, home, auto insurance, and financial products, including life insurance, annuities, property, and casualty insurance.

As an insurance company, Cincinnati Financial makes money in two ways. It earns income from premiums on policies written and by investing its float, or the large sum of money consisting of the time value between the premium income and insurance claims.

On July 28, 2022, Cincinnati Financial reported second-quarter financial results. Adjusted earnings-per-share of $0.65 missed analyst estimates by $0.39 per share, while earned premiums of $1.77 billion missed analyst estimates by $190 million. However, earned premiums rose 11.3% year-over-year. Book value of $66.30 at quarter-end declined $15.42 per share since the beginning of 2022. The company had a negative value creation ratio of 17.2% over the first half, reversing a positive 11.6% value creation ratio over the same six-month period last year.

On January 28, 2022, the company increased its dividend by 9.5% to $0.69 per share per quarter. This was its 62nd year of dividend increases.

We expect 6% annual EPS growth through 2027. In addition, the stock has a current dividend yield of 2.8%. Lastly, the stock appears to be undervalued. Total returns are estimated at 12.1% per year over the next five years.

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

Dividend King #4: Parker-Hannifin (PH)

5-Year Annual Expected Returns: 12.1%

Parker-Hannifin is a diversified industrial manufacturer specializing in motion and control technologies. The company was founded in 1917 and has annual revenues of over $14 billion.

Source: Investor Presentation

Parker-Hannifin has paid a dividend for 71 years and has increased that dividend for a remarkable 65 consecutive years.

In early May, Parker-Hannifin reported (5/5/21) financial results for the third quarter of fiscal 2022. Sales grew 9% over the prior year’s quarter and adjusted earnings-per-share grew 17%, from $4.12 to $4.83, thanks to strong demand in nearly all markets, which more than offset the headwind of cost inflation.

Parker-Hannifin exceeded analysts’ consensus by $0.18 and posted record sales and earnings-per-share. It also narrowed its guidance for adjusted earnings-per-share in fiscal 2022 from $17.80-$18.30 to $18.00-$18.30 and raised the dividend by 29%.

We expect total returns of 12.1% per year, driven by 9% EPS growth, the 1.6% dividend yield, and a ~1.5% annual boost from a rising P/E ratio.

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

Dividend King #3: Computer Services (CSVI)

5-Year Annual Expected Returns: 12.5%

Computer Services provides regional banks with a wide range of services, such as core processing, digital banking, payments processing, and regulatory compliance solutions. It has a market cap of $1.4 billion, making it a small-cap stock.

The company operates two major segments, Enterprise Banking and Business Solutions. The Enterprise Banking Group is the larger segment, comprising roughly 62% of total company revenue.

Computer Services has grown its sales, earnings, and its dividend for 22, 25, and 50 consecutive years, respectively. Thanks to strong business momentum, management expects to post new all-time highs in the above metrics this year.

Computer Services has grown its earnings-per-share at a 10.2% average annual rate over the last decade. The pandemic has not affected the performance of Computer Services at all.

The impressive growth record of Computer Services is a testament to the strength of its business model. The company signs multi-year contracts with its customers and offers them a wide range of services. It is thus very costly and inefficient for these customers to stop working with the company, particularly given that they pay appreciable early termination fees.

The stock has a 2.8% dividend yield, and we expect 8% annual EPS growth. With a ~1.7% annual boost from an expanding P/E multiple, total returns are expected to reach 12.5% per year.

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

Dividend King #2: Lowe’s Companies (LOW)

5-Year Annual Expected Returns: 14.5%

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.

Lowe’s reported first quarter 2022 results on May 18th. Total sales for the first quarter came in at $23.7 billion compared to $24.4 billion in the same quarter a year ago. Comparable sales decreased 4%, while U.S. home improvement comparable sales decreased 3.8%.

Of note, pro customer sales rose 20% year-over-year. Net earnings of $2.3 billion was in-line with results from Q1 2021. Diluted earnings per share of $3.51 was a 9.3% increase from $3.21 a year earlier.

The company repurchased 19 million shares in the first quarter for $4.1 billion. Additionally, they paid out $537 million in dividends. The company remains in a strong liquidity position with $3.4 billion of cash and cash equivalents.

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 1.8% dividend yield lead to total expected returns of 14.5% 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 #1: 3M Company (MMM)

5-Year Annual Expected Returns: 15.1%

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 into a standalone entity, which would have had $8.6 billion of revenue in 2021. The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2023.

3M provided an updated outlook for 2022, with the company now expecting adjusted earnings-per-share of $10.30 to $10.80 for the year, down from $10.75 to $11.25 previously.

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

Analysis Reports On All 45 Dividend Kings

All 45 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 Cyclical

Consumer Staples

Energy

National Fuel Gas (NFG) – [See newest Sure Analysis report]

Financial Services

Healthcare

Industrial

Real Estate

Federal Realty Investment Trust (FRT) – [See newest Sure Analysis report]

Technology

Computer Services (CSVI) – [See newest Sure Analysis report]

Utilities

Performance Of The Dividend Kings

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

Dividend Kings July 2022 total return: 5.9%
SPY July 2022 total return: 9.2%

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: 11
Industrials: 11
Utilities: 6
Consumer Discretionary: 4
Health Care: 4
Financials: 3
Materials: 3
Real Estate: 1
Energy: 1
Technology: 1

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.

5 Mega caps ($200 billion+ market cap; ABBV, JNJ, PEP, PG, and KO)
20 Large caps ($10 billion to $200 billion market cap)
14 Mid caps ($2 billion to $10 billion)
6 Small caps ($300 million to $2 billion)

Interestingly, 20 out of the 45 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 High Yield Dividend Aristocrats List is comprised of the 20 Dividend Aristocrats with the highest current yields.
The Dividend Champions: stocks with 25+ years of dividend increases, including stocks which may not otherwise qualify as Dividend Aristocrats.
The Dividend Contenders: 10-24 consecutive years of dividend increases.
The Dividend Challengers: 5-9 consecutive years of dividend increases.
The Dividend Achievers: dividend stocks with 10+ 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 more than 30 stocks that pay dividends every month.
The Blue-Chip Stocks List: our list of “blue-chip stocks” is a combination of our Dividend Kings, Dividend Aristocrats, and Dividend Achievers lists.

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 download my Dividend Kings Excel Spreadsheet now. Keep reading this article to learn more.

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

Sure Dividend

High-Quality Dividend Stocks, Long-Term Plan

2022 Dividend Kings List | Updated Daily | All 45 Analyzed

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