Dividend-News

6 Dividend Aristocrat Stocks to Consider

Published Tue, 22 Jun 2010 09:13:17 -0400 on Seeking Alpha

In a continued effort to expand the focus of my site's screens and hypothetical portfolios, this article is a second follow-up to an article written in early April focusing on the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats. The S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats index measures the performance of large cap, blue chip companies within the S&P 500 that have followed a policy of increasing dividends every year for at least 25 consecutive years. The current list has 43 constituents and the entire list is available from S&P or on my site. If an investor's portfolio was large enough he or she could consider purchasing the entire list.Alternatively, an investor could invest in the [[SDY]], the SPDR Dividend ETF, which is a variation of the Aristocrats - it seeks to replicate the “High Yield” Dividend Aristocrats Index. A third alternative is to start with the Aristocrat list and then reduce the list of candidates through screens and/or fundamental analysis. I screened for Aristocrats which had a sustainable payout ratio, a high dividend yield, relatively low debt/equity ratio, and positive return on assets and equity. Using Finviz, which has some of the better screeners and charts available, I screened the Aristocrat list for: Payout Ratio < 80%,Dividend Yield > 3% Return on Assets > 10% Return on Equity > 10%Total Debt/Equity < 1 Below is a list of 6 Aristocrats which are worthy of further consideration, especially if one is seeking yield or seeking to reduce exposure to non-dividend paying companies. All of the companies on the list are familiar names and they were also all on last month's list with the exception of [[JNJ]]. Ticker Company Free Trend Analysis Dividend Yield Payout Ratio Performance (Half Year) Price [[LLY]] Eli Lilly & Co. Here 5.65% 52.87% 0.55% 34.66 [[JNJ]] Johnson & Johnson Here 3.65% 40.66% -6.74% 59.13 [[ABT]] Abbott Laboratories Here 3.64% 47.77% -8.44% 48.3 [[KO]] The Coca-Cola Company Here 3.35% 54.40% -6.35% 52.48 [[MCD]] McDonald's Corp. Here 3.15% 48.79% 14.83% 69.92 [[MHP]] The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.Disclosure: No positions... Read more