Wealthy Living

3 Dividend Aristocrats You Should Research For Your Portfolio

Dividend aristocrats are companies in the S&P 500 index that have annually increased their dividends for the past 25 years.

These companies have a multi-decade history of not only issuing a reliable dividend, but increasing the size of their payout each year.

There are only 65 companies that satisfy the dividend aristocrat criteria.

Criteria are:

– Member of the S&P 500 Index – Increase per-share base dividend every year for at least 25 consecutive years – Minimum float-adjusted market capitalization of at least $3 billion – Average at least $5 million in daily share trading value for the three months prior

Dividend Aristocrats For Your Watchlist

1) Atmos Energy (ATO)

– 1-Year Trailing Performance: +6% – Market Cap: $14B

Atmos Energy is the country’s largest natural gas-only distributor, delivering natural gas to +3 million distribution customers via its proprietary pipelines and storage assets across eight states located primarily in the South.

2) Walmart Corporation (WMT)

– 1-Year Trailing Performance: -12% – Market Cap: $324B

Walmart operates a chain of discount department stores and grocery stores around the globe. It is the world’s largest private employer with over 2.3 million employees.

Walmart has increased its annual cash dividend every year since it first declared a $0.05 per share dividend in 1974; that is 48 consecutive years of dividend increases.

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