Glossary · Stocks and markets
Dividend aristocrat
A dividend aristocrat is a company that has raised its dividend every year for at least 25 years in a row.
Also called: dividend aristocrats, dividend champion
In their own filings, the latest from Nov 2026. 50 years or more: 24.
Dover, Genuine Parts, Parker Hannifin and Procter & Gamble.
In plain words
Getting a raise once is nice. Getting one every single year for 25 years, through recessions, wars and crashes, takes a very steady employer. Companies that have done that with their dividend are nicknamed dividend aristocrats.
The name comes from an index of S&P Dow Jones Indices: members of the S&P 500 that have raised their dividend every year for at least 25 years. People also use it loosely for any company with such a record, and call those with 50 years or more “dividend kings”.
By the companies’ own statements in their recent filings, 46 members of the S&P 500 claim a run of 25 years or more, and 24 of them 50 years or more. The longest run is 70 years: Dover, Genuine Parts, Parker Hannifin and Procter & Gamble.
Example
What 25 years of raises add up to
- A company pays $1.00 a share this year and raises the dividend by 6% every year after.
- After 10 years it pays $1.79 a share; after 25 years, $4.29.
- If you paid $25 a share at the start (a 4% yield), after 25 years the dividend alone is 17% a year on what you paid.
- Miss a single raise, even by holding the dividend flat, and the streak starts again from zero.
A streak says nothing about the price you pay for the shares, or about the next 25 years.
One level deeper
A long streak needs two things: profits that keep growing through bad years, and a board that treats the dividend as a promise. It is common among makers of everyday goods (soap, soft drinks, groceries), industrial suppliers, and some utilities and insurers.
Streaks do end. General Electric, long a model of steady dividends, cut its dividend in 2009; AT&T and 3M, each with decades of increases behind them, cut theirs in 2022 and 2024 after splitting off parts of their businesses. A company that cuts simply stops claiming a streak, so lists of aristocrats always look better than the history behind them: the fallen are no longer on the list. That is survivorship bias.
Our dividend aristocrats article checks each company’s claim against the dividends it actually reported.
The longest runs of dividend increases in the S&P 500
Years of dividend increases in a row, as each company states it in its own recent SEC filings. Companies count in their own way (fiscal or calendar years, declared or paid), so a difference of a year means little.
The numbers behind the chart
| Years of increases in a row | |
|---|---|
| Dover | 70 |
| Genuine Parts | 70 |
| Parker Hannifin | 70 |
| Procter & Gamble | 70 |
| Emerson Electric | 69 |
| Cincinnati Financial | 66 |
| Coca-Cola | 64 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 64 |
| Colgate-Palmolive | 63 |
| Illinois Tool Works | 63 |
| Nordson | 62 |
| Hormel Foods | 60 |
| Federal Realty | 59 |
| Abbott Laboratories | 54 |
| Becton Dickinson | 54 |
Why it matters
A long record of rising dividends is evidence of a durable business and a disciplined board: dividends are cash, and cash is hard to fake.
For people living off their savings, a dividend that grows faster than inflation protects their income.
It shows how compounding works for income too: a dividend growing 6% a year doubles in about 12 years.
A common mistake
Myth: Dividend aristocrats never cut their dividends.
In fact: They have not yet, by definition; when one cuts, it drops off the list. General Electric cut in 2009, AT&T in 2022 and 3M in 2024, each after decades of increases. A long streak lowers the odds of a cut; it does not remove them.
Questions people ask
How many dividend aristocrats are there?
S&P’s own index changes every year as companies join or drop out. Counting by the companies’ own recent statements, 46 S&P 500 members claim at least 25 years of increases.
What is a dividend king?
An informal name for a company with 50 or more years of dividend increases in a row. In the S&P 500, 24 companies say so in their recent filings.
Do dividend aristocrats beat the market?
In some periods, not in others. They have tended to fall less in crashes and to lag in strong rallies led by fast-growing companies that pay little. And a list picked with hindsight always looks good in the past.
Read more on BigCapital
About the numbers
- The numbers on this page are recalculated from the data every night; the sources are listed at the end of the page.
- Dividend increase streaks, by the companies' own count: SEC EDGAR full-text search and the companies' own filings (8-K with exhibits, 10-K, DEF 14A).
- “Dividend aristocrats” is also the name of an index of S&P Dow Jones Indices, with its own rules; the counts on this page are the companies’ own statements, not that index.
- This page explains a term. It is not investment advice.