If you’ve read at least a little income-investing content, you’ve likely come across the Dividend Aristocrats. But for those who are unfamiliar, Aristocrats are companies that have raised their dividends on an annual basis for at least 25 consecutive years.
It’s a backward-looking achievement, sure, but it’s generally viewed as a sign of longstanding operational quality and dedication to rewarding shareholders that many other companies simply either can’t achieve or don’t want to pursue.
But you might want to stop short at calling them the crème de la crème of dividend growers. Because if you did … well, what would you call the Dividend Kings, which boast at least 50 consecutive years of dividend hikes? The crème de la crème de la crème? C’mon. That’s just silly.
Today, I’ll give you a look at the most elite dividend companies among the blue-chip set: the Dividend Kings of the S&P 500. I’ll also introduce you to the Kings’ newest member.
Editor’s Note: Tabular data appearing in this article is up-to-date as of March 3, 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 Dividend Growth Matters
Dividend stocks are companies that pay cash distributions (called “dividends”) to their shareholders. They usually do so on a regular basis—quarterly is the norm here in the U.S., but it can be as infrequent as annually and as frequent as monthly.
That gives you two sources of potential return: capital appreciation (stock go up), and dividend income.
If you’ve heard the business-world phrase “if you’re not growing, you’re dying,” it’s not a concrete truth as it pertains to dividend stocks, but it’s useful general guidance. Said differently: If you’re going to invest in a dividend stock, one of the top qualities to look for is whether that stock routinely increases that dividend, for two reasons:
Reason 1: Dividend Growth Can Be a Sign of Quality
When a company starts paying a regular dividend, they’re making a statement. Put bluntly, they’re saying, “We have the profits to do this, and we expect to continue having the profits to do this.”
That’s a signal of a business’s operational quality. And a company sends a similar signal when it increases its dividend. It means they’re increasingly optimistic that their baseline of profits will continue growing.
And if you’re saying to yourself, “Well, sometimes companies cut or suspend their dividends,” you’re right. Investing is an imperfect science. But for what it’s worth, those are extremely infrequent actions compared to how often companies keep their payouts level or raise them.
Reason 2: Dividend Growth Improves Your ‘Yield on Cost’
Go to your favorite investment-data website or stock-research app and look up a dividend stock like, say, Exxon Mobil (XOM). The dividend yield—the percentage of a stock’s price you can expect to receive in dividends in a given year—reflects the yield on today’s prices.
But if you buy a stock at a 1% yield today, and it raises its dividend over time, your “yield on cost” (the yield you’re receiving on the price you paid when you bought the stock) will eventually climb to 2%, 3% … you get the picture.
That’s not just nice because more money = more money. It’s actually really vital, especially when you’re in retirement and living on a fixed income, that the dividend income you depend on is at least growing at the rate of inflation. If your dividend stock keeps its payout level year in and year out, that dividend is actually losing spending power.
Dividend growth that lasts for even a few years is an encouraging feat, but the longer that streak goes, the more impressive it becomes. That’s because dividend hikes don’t happen in a bubble—over a long enough time, they’re happening during wars, pandemics, recessions, depressions, you name it. That not only is a signal that a business’s profits are downright durable—it’s also evidence that the company is committed to enhancing shareholder value.
And that brings us to Dividend Kings.
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Well, OK: First, the Dividend Aristocrats
I lied. That doesn’t bring us to Dividend Kings. Not directly, anyways.
That actually brings us to Dividend Aristocrats—stocks that have raised their payouts on an annual basis, without interruption, for at least 25 years. It’s a fairly exclusive club of about 70 stocks, most of which (but not all) are well-known blue chips that you could easily pick out of a lineup.
Of course, it’s one thing to get into La Porte d’Argent. It’s another to have a gold membership.
The Dividend Kings are a very exclusive subset of the fairly exclusive Dividend Aristocrats. To pop a crown on its head, a company must deliver at least a half-century’s worth of raises without blinking. For context: Every Dividend King started paying dividends before Steve Wozniak churned out the first Apple computer!
If that made any of you feel old, I’m sorry.
Anyhoo, if 25 years of dividend growth is impressive, then 50 years is doubly so. That means these dividends didn’t just survive, but continued to thrive, during a host of calamities, including at least six recessions, the dot-com bust, the Great Financial Crisis, COVID, and New Coke.
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The Dividend Kings
So, what are these fabled corporations? Here are the 32 Dividend Kings from within the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats, which is largely populated with large- and bigger mid-cap stocks, including their annual dividend-growth streak. Stocks are listed by sector.
Consumer Discretionary
— Lowe’s (LOW): 64 years
— Genuine Parts (GPC): 70 years
Consumer Staples
— Walmart (WMT): 53 years
— ADM (ADM): 54 years
— PepsiCo (PEP): 54 years
— Kimberly Clark (KMB): 54 years
— Target (TGT): 54 years
— Sysco (SYY): 55 years
— Altria Group (MO): 57 years
— Hormel Foods (HRL): 60 years
— Colgate-Palmolive (CL): 62 years
— Kenvue (KVUE): 63 years
— Coca-Cola (KO): 64 years
— Procter & Gamble (PG): 69 years
Financials
— S&P Global (SPGI): 54 years
— Cincinnati Financial (CINF): 66 years
Health Care
— Abbott Laboratories (ABT): 54 years
— AbbVie (ABBV): 55 years
— Becton Dickinson (BDX): 54 years
— Johnson & Johnson (JNJ): 63 years
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Industrials
— Pentair (PNR): 50 years (new in 2026)
— W.W. Grainger (GWW): 54 years
— Stanley Black & Decker (SWK): 58 years
— Illinois Tool Works (ITW): 62 years
— Nordson (NDSN): 62 years
— Emerson Electric (EMR): 69 years
— Parker Hannifin (PH): 69 years
— Dover (DOV): 70 years
Materials
— Nucor (NUE): 53 years
— PPG Industries (PPG): 54 years
Real Estate
— Federal Realty Investment Trust (FRT): 58 years
Technology
— Automatic Data Processing (ADP): 51 years
Utilities
— Consolidated Edison (ED): 52 years
A Closer Look at a Few Dividend Kings
Let’s examine a few Dividend Kings, including the newest addition to the group, so you can really get a feel for what it takes as a business to make it on this list:
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Pentair (New Dividend King)
— Sector: Industrials
— Dividend yield: 0.8%
— Dividend-growth streak: 50 years
Pentair (PNR) is one of the world’s largest providers of water solutions, operating in five continents. Its products include fluid treatment and pump products and systems, commercial and residential water treatment products and systems, and residential and commercial pool equipment and accessories. And it does so across a wide variety of names, including Aurora, Haffmans, Hydromatic, Everpure, Pentek, Kreepy Krauly, Sta-Rite, and many more, plus a few brands that utilize the Pentair name (Pentair Pool, Pentair Flow).
Like with many industrials, Pentair is a cyclical business whose top and bottom lines ebb and flow with the economy. That’s not a traditional recipe for even dividend stability, let alone unflinching growth, but Pentair has managed to do so with a tight grip on the wheel.
Pentair joins the Dividend Kings by virtue of its 50th consecutive dividend increase, which came in December 2025. PNR raised its payout by 8%, to 27¢ per share. That comes out to only 20% of the company’s expected earnings for 2026, which is an extremely conservative payout ratio that could survive a massive fluctuation in business conditions.
Also worth mentioning is that alongside the upgraded dividend, Pentair also announced a new $1 billion share-repurchase program that’s expected to run through the end of 2028.
Related: 10 Best Dividend Mutual Funds You Can Buy Now
Walmart
— Sector: Consumer staples
— Dividend yield: 0.8%
— Dividend-growth streak: 53 years
Walmart (WMT) needs no introduction, but I’ll give it one anyways. It’s a global retailing behemoth, operating 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. However, Walmart has been working to flip that script by improving store standards. Also, despite whatever misconceptions people might hold, Walmart has been on the relative cutting edge of technology adoption among retailers, rapidly adding e-commerce and other capabilities to address changing consumer interests.
Walmart is frequently among the best-rated dividend-growth stocks, and its streak of 53 years also counts among Wall Street’s longest. Its most recent dividend hike came in February 2026, when it tacked on another 5% to its quarterly payout. WMT now pays 24.75¢ per share, which is less than 40% of its projected earnings for the current fiscal year.
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Genuine Parts
— Sector: Consumer discretionary
— Dividend yield: 3.7%
— Dividend-growth streak: 70 years
Genuine Parts (GPC) might be considered a consumer discretionary stock, but given that it deals in automotive and industrial parts, much of what it sells is downright essential—and its dividend track record reflects that.
Established in 1928 and headquartered in Atlanta, GPC has carved a niche for itself as a premier distributor of automotive replacement parts, industrial parts, and business products. Its automotive segment (roughly two-thirds of revenues) predominantly come from large auto-care chains and local repair shops, though a little less than a quarter come from individual consumers. And its industrial segment (roughly one-third of revenues) sells directly to companies with large fleets.
Key to the company’s enduring success has been its extensive network of distribution centers and stores, including the well-known NAPA Auto Parts brand. This long reach has ensured a steady demand for its products, which is helpful in the often cyclical automotive and industrial sectors.
Genuine Parts Company’s investor appeal is significantly bolstered by its impressive record of dividend payments. The company has paid out dividends without interruption for 76 years, and it has increased those distributions annually for 70 consecutive years to earn its Dividend King membership card. It reached a full seven decades in February 2026, when GPC upped its dividend by 3% to $1.0625 per share quarterly—about half the profits it’s expected to bring in during 2026.
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Mega-Yielding Funds You’ve Never Heard Of
You’ve assuredly heard of mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). But how much do you know about closed-end funds (CEFs)?
If the answer is “not much,” don’t worry—they get a fraction of the attention of those other investment funds. But you should also learn more about them. That’s because CEFs have a host of enticing characteristics, including that they frequently pay mammoth yields. Check out our list of the best CEFs, many of which pay in the high-single and even double digits.
Related: 15 Best Long-Term Stocks to Buy and Hold Forever
As even novice investors probably know, funds—whether they’re mutual funds or exchange-traded funds (ETFs)—are the simplest and easiest ways to invest in the stock market. But the best long-term stocks also offer many investors a way to stay “invested” intellectually—by following companies they believe in. They also provide investors with the potential for outperformance.
So if you’re looking for a starting point for your own portfolio, look no further. Check out our list of the best long-term stocks for buy-and-hold investors.
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