It’s easy to love what dividend stocks have to offer. In addition to the upside potential that equities in general provide, the cash income from dividend-paying companies is a second source of returns—a vital (and relatively tax-friendly) ballast for when market performance isn’t going our way.

But some dividend stocks take the generosity a step further by occasionally increasing the amount they pay out to their shareholders. Others go the extra mile by doing so every year. And a select few really set themselves apart from the crowd by doing so every year for so many years that someone decided to slap a label on them:

Dividend Aristocrats.

Today, I’m going to tell you a little bit about the Dividend Aristocrats, then highlight the 10 best-rated members of a particular blue-chip subset called the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats.

Editor’s Note: Tabular data presented in this article is up-to-date as of May 5, 2026.

Disclaimer: This article does not constitute individualized investment advice. Individual securities, funds, and/or other investments appear for your consideration and not as personalized investment recommendations. Act at your own discretion.

Table of Contents

Why You Should Care About Dividend Growth

a green line pointing upward rests against a sack of money. — DepositPhotos

When a company starts up a dividend program, that in and of itself is a powerful statement by corporate management about that company’s ability to generate profits. If logically implies that they expect their business to regularly produce a level of earnings so high, they can afford to share some of it with us.

That’s great! If a business wasn’t paying us squat on Monday, then decided on Tuesday to start paying us a dollar per share every year for the rest of my life? Well, you wouldn’t hear a peep of complaint out of me.

But what if a company started paying us a dollar per share one year, then raised it every year after that? I’d argue that would look a lot more attractive, for several reasons:

A higher dividend over time means a higher “yield on cost” for us. If we bought a share of stock for $100, that $1 per share would equal a 1% yield on our purchase. If the stock price and dividend both doubled, to $200 per share and $2, respectively, new investors would still be buying at a 1% yield. But us? We’d be earning 2% on our original $100 purchase.
A higher dividend over time fends off inflation. In most years, we experience inflation, which is when the worth of our currency slightly declines. So $1 worth of groceries, gas, etc. this year will generally buy you slightly less groceries, gas, etc. next year. High inflation over the past few years really drives home this point—according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, in May 2026 you would need $1.96 to buy what $1 could have bought in January 2020, right before the COVID pandemic hit a fever pitch. So if you receive $1 in dividends every year in perpetuity, your dividend income will lose its value over time. But if that initial $1 dividend is raised enough every year, your income could keep pace with (or even outrun) inflation.
A higher dividend can be a sign of quality. Just like initiating a dividend says “we have so much money that you can have some,” a track record of raising dividends typically signals a company’s ability to continue growing its bottom line.

Put simply: Regular dividend growth signals a higher caliber of operations (and thus potentially a higher caliber of stock), and it puts more money in our pockets. That’s a lot to love.

The S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats

The term “Dividend Aristocrats” generally refers to stocks with some sort of track record of dividend growth. There are, in fact, many types of Dividend Aristocrats—European Aristocrats, Canadian Aristocrats, mid-cap Aristocrats, and so on—and each group has a certain set of criteria for inclusion, including a baseline of dividend growth.

But most discussions around Dividend Aristocrats revolve around one particular subset: the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats.

The S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats are the biggest, blue-chip dividend growers that the U.S. equity markets have to offer. And ultimately, they have to meet just two criteria for inclusion:

Be members of the S&P 500.
Have increased dividends for at least 25 consecutive years.

That second criterion needs a little explaining, however.

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There’s More Than One Way to Grow Dividends Every Year

Most companies’ annual dividend increases go exactly the way you’d expect: Every year, they raise the amount they regularly pay across the calendar.

Example: Woodley Inc. (KW) distributed $1 per share every quarter in 2026, then to start 2027, it increased that payout to $1.10 per share across the whole year. 2027 would count as one year toward the 25-year streak.

However, technically speaking, dividend increases are calculated across the entire year. So what really mattered wasn’t the increase from $1 to $1.10 per share, but the fact that Woodley Inc. paid out $4 per share across 2026, then $4.40 per share across 2027. Why does that matter? Well …

Example: Woodley Inc. started 2026 paying 90¢ per share per quarter. In mid-2026, it raised its quarterly payout to $1 per share. It paid $3.80 per share (90¢ + 90¢ + $1 + $1) across all of 2026. The next year, Woodley Inc. didn’t increase its quarterly dividend, so it paid out $1 per share quarterly, and thus $4 per share ($1 + $1 + $1 + $1) across the whole year. 2027 would still count as one year toward the 25-year streak. (However, the company would have to increase the quarterly dividend in 2028 to earn another year of growth.)

In short: A Dividend Aristocrat doesn’t necessarily have to raise its periodic dividend every year to achieve a streak of annual dividend growth. (But they frequently do.)

Lastly, whenever a Dividend Aristocrat announces a dividend increase, we in the media typically give them the benefit of the doubt and add another year to their dividend-growth streak. But on rare occasions, the year doesn’t end up qualifying, usually resulting in a broken streak and exclusion from the Aristocrats.

Example: Woodley Inc. paid $1 per share quarterly in 2026, good for $4 per share across the entire year. In January 2027, the company increased the quarterly dividend to $1.10 per share. In mid-year, sudden cash-flow issues forced the company to reduce its dividend by 50%, to 55¢ per share. Woodley Inc. paid out $3.30 per share ($1.10 + $1.10 + 55¢ + 55¢) across 2027. That would not count as a year of dividend growth, thus Woodley Inc.’s dividend-growth streak would end.

The Best-Rated Dividend Aristocrats Right Now

Currently, there are 69 S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats—a group of stocks that most people would generally consider to be stable, dependable companies.

But that doesn’t mean they all make equally worthy investments.

Let’s separate the wheat from the chaff. I’ll show you the 10 best-rated Dividend Aristocrats right now, as determined by their consensus analyst rating, provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence. S&P boils down consensus ratings down to a numerical system where …

1 to 1.5: Strong Buy
1.5 to 2.5: Buy
2.5 to 3.5: Hold
3.5 to 4.5: Sell
4.5 to 5: Strong Sell

All of the Dividend Aristocrats on this list have a rating of 2 or less, indicating that at worst they enjoy a pretty firm consensus Buy rating, if not an outright Strong Buy rating.

I’ve listed all 10 stocks in reverse order of consensus analyst rating (from worst to best).

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Best Dividend Aristocrat #10: Nucor

nucor aristocrat steel sheets 1200 — DepositPhotos

Sector: Materials
Market cap: $53.0 billion
Dividend yield: 1.0%
Consensus analyst rating: 1.80 (Buy)

Nucor (NUE) is North America’s largest steel manufacturer and recycler. It produces a wide variety of products, including hot-rolled, cold-rolled, and galvanized sheet steel products; bar steel products; and steel joists and joist girders, among other products. It also has a raw materials segment that produces direct reduced iron, processes scrap metal, and even engages in natural gas production.

It’s among the top-rated materials stocks right now, too, enjoying 11 Buys versus just three Holds and a single Sell.

“Nucor kicked off 2026 on a strong note, with a solid 1Q’26 beat and constructive outlook commentary,” says BMO Capital Markets metals and mining analyst Katja Jancic, who rates shares at Outperform (equivalent of Buy). “Backlogs are healthy, and pricing environment continues to surprise to the upside. Meanwhile, with multiple projects advancing commissioning or ramp-up phases, Nucor’s profitability and FCF generation potential are improving, in turn supporting Nucor’s strategy to pursue further growth while returning capital to shareholders. We increase our estimates and target to $250.”

Nucor is a highly cyclical stock whose fates are closely tethered to economic activity, both here and abroad. That’s typically not going to be fertile breeding ground for dividend stability.

But NUE is an exception to the rule: It has delivered 53 years of dividend growth, good enough for inclusion among the Dividend Kings, which have raised their distributions for at least 50 years without interruption. No. 53 came in December 2025, when the company raised its payout by 1.8%, to 56¢ per share.

Best Dividend Aristocrat #9: Amcor

Sector: Consumer discretionary
Market cap: $17.5 billion
Dividend yield: 6.9%
Consensus analyst rating: 1.75 (Buy)

Amcor (AMCR) produces flexible and rigid packaging products for a wide variety of industries. Its rigid packaging is used on any number of grocery-store items, including soft drinks, water, sports drinks, sauces, spreads, even personal-care items, while its flexible packaging is used in the food-and-beverage, medical, and pharmaceutical industries, among others. (Thus, while Amcor is considered a consumer discretionary name, it’s truly closer to being a consumer-industrial hybrid.)

Amcor grew considerably bigger last year, acquiring rival Berry Global in April 2025 to create a combined entity with more than 400 facilities and 75,000 employees, and boasting a reach of over 40 countries. But it has grown smaller this year by virtue of a double-digit decline on the back of elevated energy and freight costs, courtesy of America’s war on Iran.

Regardless, analysts remain bullish overall, with AMCR shares boasting eight Buys, four Holds, and no Sells. That puts it among the 10 best-rated Dividend Aristocrats right now.

“We believe the company has multiple avenues at its disposal to drive more pronounced volume growth, EBITDA, and FCF [following the Berry] acquisition, which we view as a transformational transaction,” says Truist Managing Director Michael Roxland, who rates shares at Buy. “Volumes should improve by at least 100bps through a combination of cross-selling, new geographies, and do-it-yourself. Further, EBITDA and FCF growth will be driven by better volumes as well as cost synergies, which we believe have upside.”

This Aristocrat currently has more than four decades of uninterrupted dividend growth. It marked 42 years with the announcement of a 2% raise, to 65¢ per share, in November 2025. (Note: The dividend amount here has been adjusted for a 1-for-5 reverse stock split, also announced in November, that was completed in mid-January 2026. At the time of the announcement, the increase was listed as a 2% raise to 13¢ per share.)

Best Dividend Aristocrat #8: AbbVie

An AbbVie sign outside of a building. — DepositPhotos

Sector: Consumer discretionary
Market cap: $364.8 billion
Dividend yield: 3.3%
Consensus analyst rating: 1.75 (Buy)

AbbVie (ABBV) is a mega-cap biopharmaceutical company that was spun off of fellow Dividend Aristocrat Abbott Laboratories (ABT) in 2013.

It has a wide and deep lineup. Some of its best-known drugs include Skyrizi (autoimmune diseases) and Rinvoq (inflammatory diseases), and it has several cancer drugs including Imbruvia, Venclexta, and Elahere. Its other medicines treat everything from schizophrenia and bipolar disorder to Parkinson’s and migraines. AbbVie also offers a number of eye-care products including Refresh/Optive, Durysta, and Restasis, and even cosmetic therapies for crow’s feet, forehead lines, and facial volume loss.

ABBV, like much of the healthcare sector, is sitting in the red this year. But the Street remains optimistic after a strong first-quarter earnings report released in late April.

“While competition will continue to be something to monitor, management’s strong commentary on Skyrizi growth and market share combined with success of the subcutaneous induction regimen in Crohn’s disease and intriguing combination data with ABBV-382 in Crohn’s disease bolster longer-term competitiveness of the company’s immunology franchise,” say William Blair analysts, who rate the stock at Outperform. “Combined with bullish commentary on Temab-A, the Parkinson’s and migraine portfolio, and earlier-stage assets, we continue to believe there are reasons to be constructive on AbbVie shares.”

William Blair is among 24 research firms that rate ABBV a Buy. Another eight say the stock is a Hold, and no one’s calling it a Sell at present.

AbbVie is another Dividend King, with 54 consecutive years of payout raises. The most dividend increase came in January 2026, when the company announced a 5.5% improvement to $1.73 per share.

Best Dividend Aristocrat #7: Coca-Cola

Sector: Consumer staples
Market cap: $337.7 billion
Dividend yield: 2.7%
Consensus analyst rating: 1.71 (Buy)

The Dividend Aristocrats are littered with consumer staples stocks: companies that make goods considered to be basic necessities.

It’s pretty easy to understand why. When times get tough, households might spend less on vacations and designer jeans, but they’re not going to stop going to the grocery store. (This is why staples make for some of the best dividend stocks for beginners, too.)

Take Atlanta-based beverage titan Coca-Cola (KO), which has more than 130 years of operating history and currently serves up more than 200 brands to more than 200 countries and territories.

Sugary soft drinks might not be a growth business in an age of healthier living, but Coca-Cola products still enjoy strong baseline demand. But more importantly: This mega-cap powerhouse is more than just Coke. Coca-Cola boasts a wide variety of other beverage brands, including Vitaminwater and Dasani water, Fuze teas, Powerade sports drinks, Minute Maid juices, Costa Coffee, Fairlife ultra-filtered milk, and many more drinks that are likely to meet your definition of a household staple.

But Coke isn’t just a consumer staples stock—it’s one of the best, boasting a huge bull contingent of 19 Buys versus five Holds and not a single Sell call right now.

“Coke’s new CEO (Elect) Henrique Braun laid out his vision at CAGNY, which we view as evolutionary rather than revolutionary, and makes sense given clear existing business model/execution advantages,” says Morgan Stanley analyst Dara Mohsenian, who rates the stock at Overweight. “We see Coke as a strong long-term compounder with sustained higher organic sales growth than peers.”

“We came away from the day with a view that the company’s ’26 outlook is embedding additional flexibility to account for an external environment that remans volatile/unpredictable (particularly on the margin front) and will likely prove to be more than achievable,” UBS analyst Peter Grom (Buy) adds.

And then there’s Coca-Cola’s place among the Dividend Aristocrats (and Kings). KO currently boasts 64 years of unfettered dividend growth, most recently announcing a 4% hike to its payout (to 53¢ per share) in February 2026.

Best Dividend Aristocrat #6: Abbott Laboratories

abbott laboratories abt stock blacksign 1200 — DepositPhotos

Sector: Healthcare
Market cap: $151.8 billion
Dividend yield: 2.9%
Consensus analyst rating: 1.68 (Buy)

Abbott Laboratories (ABT) is a large healthcare firm that develops, makes, and sells medical devices, diagnostic products, nutritional products, and generic pharmaceuticals. Among other things, it’s responsible for FreeStyle (and FreeStyle Libre) glucose monitors, Pedialyte hydration products, Similac formulas, PediaSure children’s nutritional products, and BinaxNow COVID-19 antigen tests.

It’s also the owner of Cologuard screening tests following the March 2026 closure of its acquisition of Exact Sciences.

Medical devices are Abbott’s biggest breadwinner at nearly half of revenues, and they’ve been a key driver of growth of late. The company has reported 13 consecutive quarters of double-digit top-line growth in medical devices; in the first quarter of 2026, it enjoyed a 14% year-over-year improvement in electrophysiology revenues and 11% growth in heart failure product sales.

Abbott has been weighed down by short-term headwinds, including weakness in nutrition that could persist through the first half of this year. Regardless, ABT enjoys a crowded bull camp of 21 Buys (versus seven Holds and no sells).

“Abbott’s pivot to a price-cutting strategy in Nutrition raises concerns about increased competition in the market,” says Argus Research analyst David Toung (Buy). “On the other hand, we believe Abbott’s growth drivers (including the FreeStyle Libre, electrophysiology products, leadless pacemakers, and cardiovascular devices) as well as its ability to develop and launch new products could lead to continued growth in sales and earnings. We note that Abbott plans to expand the FreeStyle portfolio beyond the diabetic market to the consumer market.”

“Abbott’s continued growth on the MedTech side, disciplined M&A, and margin leverage over time buoy our constructive stance on the name,” add Oppenheimer analysts, who rate the stock at Outperform [equivalent of Buy]. “The relative buffers provided by the different business segments, the cash-on-hand, dividend yield, and potential for margin expansion form the basis of our constructive stance on the name.”

Abbott is another Dividend King, this one boasting 54 years of uninterrupted dividend growth. The most recent increase to the quarterly payout—a 7% hike to 63¢ per share—was announced in December 2025. The distribution itself dates back more than a century, to 1924.

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Best Dividend Aristocrat #5: Linde

Sector: Materials
Market cap: $231.4 billion
Dividend yield: 1.3%
Consensus analyst rating: 1.68 (Buy)

Materials companies are often extremely cyclical investments that tend to rise and fall based on broad-based economic trends and industrial demand. That said, a few have passed the test of time and managed to deliver consistent dividends regardless.

Case in point: Ireland-based Linde plc (LIN). Linde is the world’s largest industrial gas producer, offering oxygen, nitrogen, argon, helium, hydrogen, electronic gases, acetylene, and rare gases. It also produces air separation, synthesis, olefin, and other plants for third-party customers. And it does this across every continent.

It’s a cyclical business, but Linde offers some shelter from the economic shocks that many of its businessmates suffer. That’s in part because of its diverse offerings, but also because of the industries it supplies.

“The company has a strong presence in many defensive end markets, including healthcare, food and beverages, and electronics that should generate consistent revenues even in a soft economic environment,” says Argus Research analyst Alexandra Yates, who is one of 21 Buys on LIN shares (vs. seven Holds and no Sells). “In addition, Linde currently manages a significant $10 billion backlog of projects, mostly under contract with blue-chip companies, which provide strong and steady cash flow and maintain a solid balance sheet. The long-term contracts allow for safe and consistent returns and position the company for future growth.”

In fact, its business has been so relatively stable that it has—by virtue of its 2018 merger with fellow gas giant Praxair—been able to deliver 33 consecutive years of increased dividends to its shareholders, most recently a 7% hike announced in February 2026, to $1.60 per share.

While long-term buy-and-holders might look away from the materials sector, Linde sticks out as both a Dividend Aristocrat and a surprisingly stable “forever stock.”

Best Dividend Aristocrat #4: West Pharmaceutical

injectable drugs in their containers. — DepositPhotos

Sector: Healthcare
Market cap: $21.9 billion
Dividend yield: 0.3%
Consensus analyst rating: 1.53 (Buy)

When is a pharmaceutical company not a pharmaceutical company? When it’s West Pharmaceutical (WST).

Apologies to those of you who hate riddles, but West Pharmaceuticals doesn’t deal in drugs. Instead, it designs, manufactures, and sells the containment and delivery systems that house drugs. Its products include syringe and cartridge components, stoppers and seals for injectable packaging systems, entire self-injection systems, and drug containment solutions (including a cyclic olefin polymer called Crystal Zenith). It also provides analytical lab services, regulatory expertise, and other integrated solutions.

In short: Whereas buying a pharmaceutical company is a play on the success of that pharmaceutical company’s treatments, buying West Pharmaceutical is effectively a play on the overall growth of the pharmaceutical industry … and, of course, West’s ability to convince other pharmaceutical companies that it’s the ideal packaging partner.

Wall Street is certainly convinced—the stock enjoys 12 Buys versus three Holds and no Sells.

“We rate the stock Outperform, and that rating is predicated on West being a high-quality, franchise name that provides quality and dependable earnings and cash flow, a clear leadership competitive position, and access to attractive end-market trends without single-product or technology risk,” William Blair analysts Matt Larew and Jacob Krahenbuhl wrote in January. More recently, in March, the pair reiterated their Outperform rating after West announced that CEO Eric Green would retire from his position as soon as a successor is named. “From speaking with the company, it does sound like this was a personal decision, and we expect the role to attract high-quality interest.”

A business built on the broader growth of the healthcare sector has also meant growing income over time, which WST has been happy to increasingly share with investors. In late July 2025, the company announced its 33rd consecutive hike to the cash distribution—a 22¢-per-share dividend it began paying in November.

Best Dividend Aristocrat #3: Walmart

Sector: Consumer staples
Market cap: $1.0 trillion
Dividend yield: 0.8%
Consensus analyst rating: 1.45 (Strong Buy)

Walmart (WMT) needs no introduction, but I’ll give it one anyways.

Walmart is a global retailing behemoth, recently eclipsing $1 trillion in market capitalization. It operates nearly 11,000 stores and clubs in 19 countries, including 4,600 stores—not just Supercenters, but also discount stores, Neighborhood Markets and small-format stores—in the U.S. That doesn’t even include its 600 Sam’s Club warehouse-club locations.

WMT is frequently contrasted with fellow big-box store Target—the former is considered a lower-priced but lower-quality retailer, while the latter is pricier but perceived to be more upscale. But Walmart has been addressing this in numerous ways over the past few years, including improving store standards and widening price gaps.

Now, Walmart is going after beauty.

“Management believes it can double the size of its beauty biz, noting that while WMT already serves the beauty shopper, ~60% of her spend still occurs elsewhere,” says a team of Jefferies analysts, which rates shares at Buy. “That gap represents a meaningful wallet-share opportunity as assortment improves and the in-store experience elevates. WMT US digital is expected to lead growth and drive share gains.”

Also helping Walmart is its continued rapid technological adoption to address changing consumer interests. For instance, its AI partnership is expected to benefit from reports that OpenAI is retreating from its idea to introduce direct shopping within ChatGPT, instead directing product checkouts to retailer apps.

“We view this as a net positive for Walmart,” say BofA Global Research analysts Christopher Nardone and Madeline Cech (Buy). “This change would bring about an integrated commerce solution that’s similar to Walmart’s partnership with Google’s Gemini (announced in January). There will likely be fewer retailers (at first) with this integrated app capability and once Sparky is integrated within the platform, Walmart should have an advantage showing up in searches given its low pricing and vast product assortment.”

Walmart is among the best-rated Dividend Aristocrats there are, boasting 38 Buys versus three Holds and one Sell right now. WMT also enjoys King status; its 53rd consecutive dividend improvement came in March 2026, when it juiced its distribution by 5%, to 24.75¢ per share.

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Best Dividend Aristocrat #2: Cardinal Health

cardinal health aristocrats 1200 — DepositPhotos

Sector: Healthcare
Market cap: $46.1 billion
Dividend yield: 1.0%
Consensus analyst rating: 1.41 (Strong Buy)

Cardinal Health (CAH) is a relatively boring but extremely essential cog in the healthcare machine, providing both products and services to hospitals, healthcare systems, pharmacies, ambulatory surgery centers, physician offices, even home patients.

Just a small sample of its offerings include distributing branded, generic, and specialty pharmaceutical, medical supplies, over-the-counter healthcare products, and consumer products; pharmacy management services; Cardinal Health-manufactured and branded medical, surgical, and laboratory products; and supply chain services. This wide reach provides both revenue diversification across the sector, as well as ample opportunity for growth in several segments.

Cardinal shares rocketed higher in 2025, up 76% on a total-return basis (price plus dividends). It’s down in 2026, however, though you can’t blame its fiscal third-quarter earnings report, released in late April.

“We view the CAH thesis as unchanged with underlying growth trends across the Pharma and ‘Other’ segments remaining strong as management continues to execute and deliver earnings beats and guidance raises,” says Jefferies analyst Brian Tanquilut, who rates the stock at Buy. “We read early FY27 commentary from management positively and believe they should initially guide to at least the +12% to 14% EPS growth [long-range plan].”

The consensus is for more of the same; Tanquilut is one of 15 Buys on the stock, in contrast to two Holds and no Sells.

Cardinal Health also extended its dividend growth streak in May 2026, when it raised its payout by 1% to 51.58¢ per share. That puts the Dividend Aristocrat at 30 years of uninterrupted payout increases.

Best Dividend Aristocrat #1: S&P Global

Sector: Financials
Market cap: $125.5 billion
Dividend yield: 0.9%
Consensus analyst rating: 1.29 (Strong Buy)

I get a little enjoyment out of informing you that S&P Global (SPGI)—parent of S&P Dow Jones Indices, which produces the S&P 500—is also the best-ranked Dividend Aristocrat within the S&P 500.

The S&P 500, of course, is America’s most ubiquitous index—literally trillions of dollars worth of fund assets are either indexed to it or benchmarked against it. (And as I point out every year in my list of the best ETFs, active managers have a really hard time beating it.)

But S&P Global is more than just the S&P 500. It’s also responsible for the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the Dow Jones Transportation Index (the oldest index in use), and more than a million other indexes across a number of asset classes. It’s also home to …

S&P Global Ratings: Credit ratings, research, and analytics
S&P Global Commodity Insights: Information and benchmark prices for commodities and energy
S&P Global Market Intelligence: A wide variety of financial markets and asset data and analytics, enterprise technology, and advisory services.
S&P Global Mobility: Solutions for vehicle manufacturers, automotive suppliers, mobility service providers, and other companies in the automotive value chain. (Note: The company announced in 2025 that Mobility will be spun off, likely sometime this year.)

“We are Buy rated on S&P Global (SPGI) seeing the company as a bellwether for the info services sector and a category leader for financial analytics and essential services,” says Citi analyst Peter Christiansen, who rates shares at Buy. “We think investors can appreciate the company’s diversification across various asset classes and high degree of subscription/recurring revenue (>50% subscription, ~30% recurring), which positions the company well in both positive and challenging market environments.”

SPGI took a big hit in early February on the back of a mixed fourth-quarter earnings report that further fueled worries about AI disruption, but it has since leveled off and produced a much better Q1 2026 report in late April.

This varied and growing set of businesses has allowed S&P Global to pay dividends every year since 1937, as well as grow those dividends for 53 consecutive years. That makes SPGI a King, too. (You can check out our full list of Dividend Kings to see which other stocks make the cut.) The company’s latest improvement was a 1% uptick, to 97¢ per share, announced in January 2026.

Wall Street remains overwhelmingly bullish; 23 pros call it a Buy, versus one Hold and no Sells. That makes it tops among the Dividend Aristocrats … for now.

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The 10 Best-Rated Dividend Aristocrats Right Now