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The Top 10 Graham Number Dividend Champions


Published on May 8th, 2025 by Bob Ciura
Spreadsheet data updated daily

Benjamin Graham is widely considered to be the “founder of value investing”.

In fact, many of the best value investors over time, such as Warren Buffett, used Graham’s teachings to invest in value stocks.

Graham popularized the term intrinsic value, which refers to a stock’s underlying fair value. In this way, investors can determine whether a stock is undervalued, fairly valued, or overvalued.

One of the core principles of Graham’s investment philosophy is the Graham Number.

Investors can apply the Graham Number to find undervalued dividend growth stocks, such as the Dividend Champions.

You can download your free copy of the Dividend Champions list, along with relevant financial metrics like price-to-earnings ratios, dividend yields, and payout ratios, by clicking on the link below:

 

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

The Dividend Champions list includes several mega-cap stocks that have enormous businesses, such as Walmart Inc. (WMT) and Coca-Cola (KO).

But it also includes smaller dividend growth companies that do not qualify as Dividend Aristocrats.

The following list represents the 10 Dividend Champions in the Sure Analysis Research Database with the lowest Graham Number.

Table of Contents

Graham Number Overview

There are multiple iterations of The Graham Number, depending on the type of stock being analyzed. For slow-growth value stocks, the formula multiples the price-to-book ratio (P/B) by the price-to-earnings ratio (P/E).

For an analysis of the top 10 Dividend Kings using this formula, click here.

On the other hand, growth stocks that pay dividends can be analyzed by the following Graham formula:

EPS x (8.5 + 2 x g)

In this case, ‘g’ refers to the stock’s long-term dividend growth rate. We use the 5-year estimated dividend growth rate.

Investors want to focus on stocks with a low Graham number (the lower, the better).

The 10 most undervalued Dividend Champions, according to the Graham number, are listed below. The stocks are listed according to their Graham numbers, in ascending order.

Top Graham Number Dividend Champion: Kenvue Inc. (KVUE)

Kenvue has three segments, including Self Care, Skin Health and Beauty, and Essential Health. Self Care’s product portfolio includes cough, cold, allergy, smoking cessation, and pain care products among others.

Skin Health and Beauty holds products such as face, body, hair, and sun care. Essential Health contains products for women’s health, wound care, oral care, and baby care.

Well-known brands in Kenvue’s product line up include Tylenol, Listerine, Band-Aid, Neutrogena, Nicorette, and Zyrtec.

On February 6th, 2025, Kenvue announced fourth quarter and full-year earnings results For the quarter, revenue declined 0.1% to $3.66 billion, which was $109 million less than expected.

Source: Investor Presentation

Adjusted earnings-per-share of $0.26 compared unfavorably to $0.31 last year and was in-line with estimates.

For the year, revenue improved 0.1% to $15.5 billion while adjusted earnings-per-share of $1.14 compared to $1.29 in 2023.

Organic sales improved 1.7% for the quarter and 1.5% for the year. For the quarter, pricing and mix added 1% while volume grew 0.7%.

Skin Health and Beauty and Self Care were positive for the period, but were offset by weaker results for Essential Health. Gross profit margin expanded 80 basis points to 56.5%.

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

Top Graham Number Dividend Champion: Tootsie Roll Industries (TR)

Tootsie Roll Industries, Inc. traces its roots to the late 1890’s when its namesake product, the Tootsie Roll, was first created. Today, the company sells a wider variety of candy and gum products.

Other well-known brands include DOTS, Junior Mints, Andes, Charms, Blow-Pops, Sugar Daddy, and Dubble Bubble.

Tootsie Roll has a dual class share structure with the Chairwoman and CEO, Ellen R. Gordon owning approximately 57.1% of common stock and 82.8% of Class B shares, effectively giving her control of the company. Total revenue in 2024 was about $715.5M.

Tootsie Roll reported Q4 2024 results on February 12th, 2025. Net sales were down 2% to $191.4M for the quarter versus $195.4M in the prior year. In the same period, net earnings fell to $22.5M compared to $29.4M.

Diluted EPS decreased 22% to $0.32 per share from $0.41 on a year-over-year basis on charges and lower sales volumes.

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

Top Graham Number Dividend Champion: Andover Bancorp (ANDC)

Andover Bancorp is a financial holding company that operates via its wholly-owned subsidiary, Andover Bank. Founded in 1884, Andover Bank has a long history of providing community-focused financial services in northeastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania regions.

The company operates through 10 branches and a loan production office, serving both individual and commercial customers.

Its financial services include traditional products like deposit accounts, loan services, and mortgage lending as well as additional services such as debit card processing, investment services, and bank-owned life insurance policies.

In 2024, Andover Bank reported total assets of $565.6 million and total deposits of about $533.2 million.

On April 9th, 2025, Andover Bancorp released its annual results for the period ending December 31st, 2024. For the year, net earnings totaled $3.16 million, or $1.53 per share, down from $3.78 million or $1.80 per share in 2023.

Net interest income remained relatively flat at $14.4 million, despite an increase in interest income to $20.4 million, up from $18.1 million the prior year.

The increase in income was offset by a substantial rise in interest expense on deposits, which surged to $5.5 million, up 81.8% year-over-year.

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

Top Graham Number Dividend Champion: York Water Co. (YORW)

The York Water Company is a special one in the industry since it is the oldest investor-owned water utility in the United States, having functioned continuously since 1816.

York Water has a unique record of over 200 years of uninterrupted dividend payments to shareholders.

It operates entirely within its franchised territory, which covers 57 municipalities within York, Adams, and Franklin Counties, Pennsylvania, with an estimated population of 212,000.

The York Water sees an average daily consumption of 22.4 million gallons, generating around $71 million in annual revenues.

On March 4th, 2025, The York Water Company reported its Q4 and full-year results. Quarterly revenues were $18.9 million, up 4.3% year-over-year, driven by the distribution system improvement charge (DSIC), which allows York Water to add a charge to customers’ water bills for qualifying infrastructure replacement costs without filing for a rate change.

Revenues also benefited from customer growth, with the average number of water customers rising by 999, from 71,416 to 72,415 during the year, and wastewater customers increasing by 522, from 5,999 to 6,521, mainly due to acquisitions.

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

Top Graham Number Dividend Champion: Eastern Bankshares (EBC)

Eastern Bankshares Inc. provides commercial banking products and services primarily to retail, commercial and small business customers. It provides banking, trust, and investment services, as well as insurance services, through its full service bank branches and insurance offices.

As of March 31, 2025, Eastern Bankshares had total consolidated assets of $25.0 billion, total gross loans of $18.2 billion, and total deposits of $20.8 billion. The company was founded in 1818 and has 1,744 employees.

On April 24th, 2025, Eastern Bankshares announced its first-quarter 2025 results for the period ending March 31st, 2025. For the quarter, the company reported a net loss of $217.7 million, which contrasts sharply with net income of $60.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2024.

Reported earnings per diluted share for the same periods were $(1.08) and $0.30, respectively, marking a significant decline. Despite this GAAP loss, operating net income remained stable at $67.5 million.

Net interest income, before the provision for credit losses, increased by $9.7 million, or 5%, to $188.9 million for the first quarter, compared to $179.2 million for the fourth quarter of 2024.

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

Top Graham Number Dividend Champion: Hormel Foods (HRL)

Hormel Foods was founded back in 1891 in Minnesota. Since that time, the company has grown into a juggernaut in the food products industry with nearly $10 billion in annual revenue.

Hormel has kept with its core competency as a processor of meat products for well over a hundred years, but has also grown into other business lines through acquisitions.

Hormel has a large portfolio of category-leading brands. Just a few of its top brands include include Skippy, SPAM, Applegate, Justin’s, and more than 30 others.

The company has increased its dividend for 59 consecutive years.

Source: Investor Presentation

Hormel posted first quarter earnings on February 27th, 2025, and results were somewhat weak. The company saw adjusted earnings-per-share of 35 cents, which was three cents light of estimates.

Revenue was down fractionally year-over-year to $2.99 billion, but did beat estimates by $40 million. Organic net sales rose 1%.

The company noted supply chain disruptions within the Planters division, as well as low demand for turkey. Hormel saw higher demand for SPAM and its Black Label bacon brand.

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

Top Graham Number Dividend Champion: Canadian Utilities (CDUAF)

Canadian Utilities is a utility company with approximately 5,000 employees. ATCO owns 53% of Canadian Utilities. Based in Alberta, Canadian Utilities is a diversified global energy infrastructure corporation delivering solutions in Electricity, Pipelines & Liquid, and Retail Energy.

The company has a long history of generating steady growth and consistent profits through the economic cycle.

Source: Investor Presentation

On February 27th, 2025, Canadian Utilities posted its Q4 and full-year results for the period ending December 31st, 2024.

For the quarter, adjusted earnings amounted to $142 million USD ($0.52 per share), up $8 million USD ($0.02 per-share) year-over-year.

The increase in adjusted earnings was primarily driven by growth in the rate base and a higher return on equity (ROE) in ATCO Energy Systems’ regulated utilities.

This was partially offset by restructuring costs recorded in the quarter. GAAP EPS for 2024 was $1.03 in USD.

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

Top Graham Number Dividend Champion: Matthews International (MATW)

Matthews International Corporation provides brand solutions, memorialization products and industrial technologies on a global scale. The company’s three business segments are diversified.

The SGK Brand Solutions provides brand development services, printing equipment, creative design services, and embossing tools to the consumer-packaged goods and packaging industries.

The Memorialization segment sells memorialization products, caskets, and cremation equipment to funeral home industries.

The Industrial technologies segment is smaller than the other two businesses and designs, manufactures and distributes marking, coding and industrial automation technologies and solutions.

Matthews International reported first quarter FY 2025 results on February 6th, 2025. The company reported sales of $402 million, an 11% decline compared to the same prior year period. The decrease was the result of a 28% sales decline in its Industrial Technologies segment.

Adjusted earnings were $0.14 per share, a 62% decrease from $0.37 a year ago. The company’s net debt leverage ratio rose from 3.6 one year ago to 3.9.

Matthews continues to expect $205 million to $215 million of adjusted EBITDA for fiscal 2025.

The dividend payout ratio for Matthews International has been very conservative and only recently eclipsed one third of earnings. This conservative payout ratio allows Matthews to continue raising the dividend as it has for the last 31 years.

The company has a small competitive advantage in that it is uniquely diversified across its businesses, which allows it to weather different storms on a consolidated basis.

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

Top Graham Number Dividend Champion: Brown-Forman (BF.B)

Brown-Forman is an alcoholic beverage company that is based in Louisville. The company was founded in 1870. Brown-Forman produces and sells whiskey, vodka, tequila, champagne, and wine.

Its portfolio includes a range of mostly premium brands, such as Jack Daniel’s, Finlandia Vodka, Old Forester, and many others.

Brown-Forman reported revenues of $1.04 billion for its third quarter (fiscal 2025) earnings results. The company’s revenues were down by 3% compared to the previous year’s quarter. Revenues came in below the analyst consensus, unlike during the previous quarter.

Source: Investor Presentation

The sequential growth rate was also negative, while the year-over-year performance weakened as well, relative to the previous quarter. In constant currencies, Brown-Forman experienced a revenue increase of 6%, but a strengthening US Dollar was a major headwind for the company.

Brown-Forman’s earnings-per-share weakened compared to the previous year’s quarter, mainly due to lower revenues. The company saw its operating profit pull back during the period, with margins declining due to operating leverage headwinds caused by lower revenues.

Earnings-per-share were down by 5% year-over-year, hitting $0.57, beating the consensus estimate by $0.11 as analysts were predicting a much bigger earnings decline.

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

Top Graham Number Dividend Champion: Northeast Indiana Bancorp (NIDB)

Northeast Indiana Bancorp, Inc. is a bank holding company for First Federal Savings Bank based in Indiana. The bank offers a variety of financial services, including savings, checking, retirement and health savings accounts along with certificates of deposits and direct deposits.

Customers also have access to debt and credit cards, safe deposit boxes and online banking services. Northeast Indiana Bancorp’s loan portfolio consists of mortgage, new construction, home equity, auto and recreational vehicle loans. The bank was founded in 1995 and operates 8 full-service branches.

On April 22nd, 2025, Northeast Indiana Bancorp reported first quarter results for the period ending March 31st, 2025. For the quarter, net income totaled $1.06 million, or $0.44 per share, compared to net income of $722K, or $0.30 per share, in the prior year.

On an annualized basis, total loans improved 23.7% to $413.7 million for the quarter while total deposits grew 12.2% to $442.1 million. Northeast Indiana Bancorp’s provisions for loan losses totaled $620K, up from $500K in the prior year and $424K in the preceding quarter.

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

Additional Reading

Screening to find the best Dividend Champions 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:

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