The Best Of The S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats

Stocks with a long dividend history are popular. If the company increased dividends for a long period, too, there could no better investment for income investors. One famous index that reflects consecutive dividend increasing is the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats Index. The index measures the performance of large cap, blue chip companies within the S&P 500 that have followed a policy of increasing dividends every year for at least 25 consecutive years. 51 stocks are part of the index with a total market capitalization of roughly USD 1 trillion. In order discover the cheapest Dividend Aristocrats; I screened all stocks from the index with a P/E ratio below 15. Ten stocks fulfilled these criteria of which two yield over 3% and eight are currently recommended. One stock has a double-digit yield.

Medtronic (NYSE: MDT) has a market capitalization of $43.83 billion. The company employs 45,000 people, generates revenue of $16,184.00 million and has a net income of $3,415.00 million. The firm’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) amounts to $5,127.00 million. The EBITDA margin is 31.68% (operating margin 25.61% and net profit margin 21.10%).

Financial Analysis: The total debt represents 32.14% of the company’s assets and the total debt in relation to the equity amounts to 62.13%. Due to the financial situation, a return on equity of 20.65% was realized. Twelve trailing months earnings per share reached a value of $3.29. Last fiscal year, the company paid $0.97 in form of dividends to shareholders.

Market Valuation: Here are the price ratios of the company: The P/E ratio is 13.07, P/S ratio 2.71 and P/B ratio 2.60. Dividend Yield: 2.42%. The beta ratio is 0.84.





Dover Corporation (NYSE: DOV) has a market capitalization of $11.08 billion. The company employs 34,000 people, generates revenue of $7,950.14 million and has a net income of $846.36 million. The firm’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) amounts to $1,641.10 million. The EBITDA margin is 20.64% (operating margin 15.23% and net profit margin 10.65%).

Financial Analysis: The total debt represents 23.02% of the company’s assets and the total debt in relation to the equity amounts to 44.36%. Due to the financial situation, a return on equity of 17.90% was realized. Twelve trailing months earnings per share reached a value of $4.48. Last fiscal year, the company paid $1.18 in form of dividends to shareholders.

Market Valuation: Here are the price ratios of the company: The P/E ratio is 13.53, P/S ratio 1.39 and P/B ratio 2.26. Dividend Yield: 2.31%. The beta ratio is 1.36.





Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT) has a market capitalization of $42.10 billion. The company employs 365,000 people, generates revenue of $69,865.00 million and has a net income of $2,929.00 million. The firm’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) amounts to $7,453.00 million. The EBITDA margin is 10.67% (operating margin 6.38% and net profit margin 4.19%).

Financial Analysis: The total debt represents 38.73% of the company’s assets and the total debt in relation to the equity amounts to 114.14%. Due to the financial situation, a return on equity of 18.71% was realized. Twelve trailing months earnings per share reached a value of $4.37. Last fiscal year, the company paid $1.15 in form of dividends to shareholders.

Market Valuation: Here are the price ratios of the company: The P/E ratio is 14.71, P/S ratio 0.60 and P/B ratio 2.72. Dividend Yield: 2.24%. The beta ratio is 0.88.





Take a closer look at the full table of the cheapest Dividend Aristocrats. The average price to earnings ratio (P/E ratio) amounts to 12.19 and forward P/E ratio is 11.06. The dividend yield has a value of 3.11%. Price to book ratio is 5.55 and price to sales ratio 1.28. The operating margin amounts to 14.74% and the beta ratio is 1.00. The average stock has a debt to equity ratio of 4.91. If we eliminate the high value from PBI, the average debt ratio is at solid 0.42.

Here is the full table with some fundamentals (TTM):

Related stock ticker symbols:
CTL, PBI, CINF, ED, LEG, KMB, ABT, JNJ, CTAS, CLX, MCD, VFC, PG, PEP,
BMS, ADP, KO, PPG, CB, MHP, EMR, MMM, MKC, APD, XOM, WMT, SWK,
AFL, BF.B, DOV, BDX, ADM, HRL, SHW, LOW, WAG, TGT, GWW, FDO, ECL, SIAL, BCR,