The Dividend Aristocrats list is an excellent starting point for dividend growth investors to begin their research. In order to make this list a company needs to be in the S&P 500 (top 500 publicly listed companies by market capitalization) AND it needs to have increased its dividend payout for at least 25 consecutive years. You won't find the likes of Apple (
AAPL), Google (
GOOG), or General Electric (
GE) on this list as they have yet to prove themselves worthy. Actually, GE was on the list until it had to cut its dividend in 2009.
These are the elite dividend payers, the cream of the crop. Investors who have been fortunate enough to hold these companies over the long-term are significantly wealthier and will likely be enjoying future dividend increases yet again this year.
There are three new inductees to this prestigious club in 2013 thanks to their 25th consecutive dividend increase.
