The S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats is the most well-known list of dividend paying stocks. To be listed on the Dividend Aristocrats list, a company must be listed on the S&P index and it must increase its annual dividend payout every year for 25 consecutive years. Investors who prefer stocks that pay dividends keep a close eye on the Dividend Aristocrats list because each of the companies listed have demonstrated a consistent policy of dividend growth.
The list is updated each December as new members are added and old ones are dropped. A stock can be dropped from the Dividend Artisocrats for one of two reasons. First, they will be deleted if they are de-listed from the S&P 500 index due to a buyout or to make room for new stocks to join the index. The other reason a stock would be dropped from the Dividend Aristocrats would be if they failed to increase their dividend from the previous year.
On December 1, 2011 S&P announced that:
For index eligibility purposes, only regular dividend payments will be considered when determining the calendar year total dividend payments of a company. Special cash dividends will not be considered for eligibility purposes on a historical and on-going basis when determining the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrat Index universe.
This year, 10 new stocks have been added to the Dividend Aristocrats list for 2012. The new additions are AT&T (T), HCP Inc (HCP), Sysco Corp (SYY), Nucor Corp (NUE), Illinois Tool Works Inc (ITW), Genuine Parts Co (GPC), Medtronic Inc (MDT), Colgate-Palmolive Co (CL), T Rowe Price Group Inc (TROW), Franklin Resources (BEN).
Only one stock was dropped from the list: CenturyLink Inc (CTL).
Dividend Aristocrats for 2012
| Company Name | Stock Symbol |
| 3M Co | MMM |
| AFLAC Inc | AFL |
| AT&T Inc | T |
| Abbott Laboratories | ABT |
| Air Products & Chemicals Inc | APD |
| Archer-Daniels-Midland Co | ADM |
| Automatic Data Processing | ADP |
| Bard, C.R. Inc | BCR |
| Becton, Dickinson & Co | BDX |
| Bemis Co Inc | BMS |
| Brown-Forman Corp B | BF/B |
| Chubb Corp | CB |
| Cincinnati Financial Corp | CINF |
| Cintas Corp | CTAS |
| Clorox Co | CLX |
| Coca-Cola Co | KO |
| Colgate-Palmolive Co | CL |
| Consolidated Edison Inc | ED |
| Dover Corp | DOV |
| Ecolab Inc | ECL |
| Emerson Electric Co | EMR |
| Exxon Mobil Corp | XOM |
| Family Dollar Stores Inc | FDO |
| Franklin Resources Inc | BEN |
| Genuine Parts Co | GPC |
| Grainger, W.W. Inc | GWW |
| HCP Inc | HCP |
| Hormel Foods Corp | HRL |
| Illinois Tool Works Inc | ITW |
| Johnson & Johnson | JNJ |
| Kimberly-Clark | KMB |
| Leggett & Platt | LEG |
| Lowe’s Cos Inc | LOW |
| McCormick & Co | MKC |
| McDonald’s Corp | MCD |
| McGraw-Hill Cos Inc | MHP |
| Medtronic Inc | MDT |
| Nucor Corp | NUE |
| PPG Industries Inc | PPG |
| PepsiCo Inc | PEP |
| Pitney Bowes Inc | PBI |
| Procter & Gamble | PG |
| Sherwin-Williams Co | SHW |
| Sigma-Aldrich Corp | SIAL |
| Stanley Black & Decker | SWK |
| Sysco Corp | SYY |
| T Rowe Price Group Inc | TROW |
| Target Corp | TGT |
| VF Corp | VFC |
| Wal-Mart Stores | WMT |
| Walgreen Co | WAG |
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