A dividend aristocrat is a company that has increased its dividend for at least 25 consecutive years, which is why dividend aristocrats stand for safe dividends. Here you find a comprehensive list of dividend aristocrats from around the world.
Dividend aristocrats are the synonym of reliable dividend payers. Despite all stock market crashes and economic crises, these companies have continued to increase their dividend payments over decades.
150+ dividend stocks from the US and other countries can be found in the large list of dividend aristocrats. In addition, we show the current dividend yield as well as the dividend history including a forecast for the next business for each company.
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With 150+ dividend aristocrats this is a very extensive list covering aristocrats from all over the world. Many lists are limited to dividend aristocrats from the US. Yet, in Canada, Great Britain, Ireland and even Germany or France dividend aristocrats exist. Find these often overlooked aristocrats here.
When looking for dividend stocks, being up-to-date is imperative. Even for conservative investors, it makes a difference if the current dividend yield is 2.0 or 2.7 percent. Due to an ever-changing stock price the dividend yield constantly changes, as shown in the following example:
Dividend aristocrats suggest safety. In a limited sense this is true. At least the companies were successful enough to increase their dividends for 25+ years. Yet, the past is no guarantee for the future. Hence, before purchasing any stock, the safety of future dividends must be verified. How this can be done is the subject of this chapter.
The pay-out ratio is the classic metric used to determine the dividends’ safety. The basic idea is that the current dividend should be financed by operating profits. But how are profits defined? Investors often think about earnings. In this case, the formula of the pay-out ratio would be:
Pay-Out Ratio = Dividends / Earnings
This formula is used in reality as well. Yet, instead of earnings, the use of free cash flow should be preferred, because:
1. Earnings are an accountancy metric, which means that cash-flow is not considered. Yet, dividends are actual cash flowing out of the business.
2. Free Cash Flow respects operating costs and investments made to sustain future earnings and cash-flows. Only the remaining cash can be used to pay dividends without undermining the substance of the company.
Thus, the improved formula of the pay-out ratio is:
Pay-Out Ratio = Dividends / Free Cash Flow
When searching for pay-out ratio, pay attention if it is based on earnings or free cash flow. If it isn’t clearly visible, you might be better searching another source of information.
Unfortunately, dividends are not always covered by free cash flows. What to do then?
Best-practice would be to ignore the stock. Yet, this would be much too simple, and unfortunately, perhaps you already own the stock and the situation has deteriorated after some years. An uncovered dividend comes from the balance sheet and thus either directly diminishes the equity or increases the debt of the company. According to the strength of the balance sheet, the permanency of this emergency approach differs. A simple approach to calculate the reliability is to compare cash and cash-equivalents with the uncovered dividend amount.
In the example below, the company pays dividends of 14.652 million USD. Yet, free cash flow is only 5.355 million USD. The uncovered amount is 9.297 million USD. Although the company disposes of 3.098 million USD of cash and cash equivalents, this is not enough to cover dividends for one more year. Hence, either the free-cash-flow grows, the company increases debts or there will be a dividend cut.
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