In a separate article, I discussed the curious composition of the S&P Dividend Aristocrats, which are supposedly members of the S&P 500 that have recorded at least 25 consecutive years of higher dividends. In comparing the Dividend Champions list (found here) to the S&P 500 listing, I found that there were 52 Champions that were members of the S&P 500, but only 41 are included in S&P's Aristocrat list, and I discussed the variations. I went on to compare the listing of Dividend Challengers (5-9 years of paying higher dividends) and found that there are 63 Contenders in the S&P 500:
Constituent Name | Symbol | Years |
Airgas Inc | (ARG) | 8 |
Ameriprise Financial Inc | (AMP) | 6 |
AmerisourceBergen Corp | (ABC) | 6 |
Analog Devices Inc | (ADI) | 8 |
Assurant Inc | (AIZ) | 7 |
Best Buy Co Inc | (BBY) | 8 |
Campbell Soup Co | (CPB) | 7 |
Centerpoint Energy Inc | (CNP) | 5 |
Costco Wholesale Corp | (COST) | 7 |
CSX Corp | (CSX) | 6 |
Cummins Inc | (CMI) | 5 |
CVS Caremark Corp. | (CVS) | 7 |
Darden Restaurants Inc | (DRI) | 6 |
Deere & Co | (DE) | 7 |
Dominion Resources Inc | (D) | 7 |
Edison Intl | (EIX) | 8 |
FedEx Corp | (FDX) | 9 |
Gap Inc | (GPS) | 6 |
General Mills Inc | (GIS) | 7 |
Harris Corp | (HRS) | 9 |
Hasbro Inc | (HAS) | 7 |
Heinz, H.J. Co | (HNZ) | 7 |
Intel Corp | (INTC) | 7 |
Intl Flavors & Fragrances | (IFF) | 8 |
ITT Corporation | (ITT) | 8 |
Kellogg Co | (K) | 6 |
Kroger Co | (KR) | 5 |
L-3 Communications | (LLL) | 7 |
Lockheed Martin | (LMT) | 8 |
Microchip Technology | (MCHP) | 9 |
Microsoft Corp | (MSFT) | 5 |
National Semiconductor | (NSM) | 6 |
NIKE Inc B | (NKE) | 9 |
Norfolk Southern Corp | (NSC) | 9 |
Northrop Grumman Corp | (NOC) | 7 |
Occidental Petroleum | (OXY) | 8 |
ONEOK Inc | (OKE) | 8 |
Pall Corp | (PLL) | 6 |
PG&E Corporation | (PCG) | 6 |
PPL Corp | (PPL) | 8 |
Public Service Ent Grp | (PEG) | 7 |
QUALCOMM Inc | (QCOM) | 8 |
Raytheon Co | (RTN) | 6 |
Republic Services Inc | (RSG) | 8 |
Reynolds American Inc | (RAI) | 6 |
Robert Half Intl Inc | (RHI) | 7 |
Ryder System Inc | (R) | 6 |
Safeway Inc | (SWY) | 6 |
Sempra Energy | (SRE) | 5 |
Southern Co | (SO) | 9 |
Staples Inc | (SPLS) | 7 |
Texas Instruments Inc | (TXN) | 7 |
Tiffany & Co | (TIF) | 8 |
Torchmark Corp | (TMK) | 5 |
Travelers Cos Inc | (TRV) | 6 |
Union Pacific Corp | (UNP) | 5 |
Verizon Communications | (VZ) | 6 |
Waste Management Inc | (WM) | 7 |
Williams Cos Inc | (WMB) | 7 |
Wisconsin Energy Corp | (WEC) | 7 |
Xcel Energy Inc | (XEL) | 7 |
Xilinx Inc | (XLNX) | 6 |
Yum! Brands Inc | (YUM) | 7 |
Many of these companies are just getting started and will move on to become Dividend Contenders (10-24 years of higher dividends) and eventually Champions (25 or more years of higher dividends). That, along with their S&P 500 membership, certainly marks them as worthy investment candidates.
