A dividend king is a company that has managed to increase dividends to shareholders for at least 50 years in a row.

There are only 26 such companies in the US, and perhaps a couple more in the rest of the world. It is not a small achievement to have been able to reward long-term shareholders with a dividend raise for over half a century.

Over the past 50 years, some calamities experienced include:

- The Vietnam War
- The oil crisis in the 1970s
- Stagflationary 1970s
- Double digit interest rates in the 1980s
- Fall of the Soviet Union in 1991
- 9/11 in 2001
- The Dot-com bubble bursting in 2000
- The housing bubble bursting in 2007 - 2008
- ZIRP and NIRP since 2009
- Seven Recessions since 1967…

Throughout this calamity each of those businesses managed to grow earnings, and raise the dividend to their long-term shareholders. If you are looking for a long-term shareholder base, the best way to build it is by paying those owners more every single year. This is a simple, but novel idea for corporations to embrace.

We had one new addition to the list in 2018, which brought the number of companies to 26. This is a record since we started tracking the list of dividend kings in 2010. When I first came up with the idea for the list of dividend kings in 2010, there were only eleven companies on it. While our 2018 list also included 26 companies, I had to remove Target for now, since its streak of annual dividend increases was only 48 years. I am pretty confident that the retailer will hit 50 years in a row by the end of the decade.

The new addition for the current year include:
Commerce Bancshares (CBSH)
The companies in the 2019 dividend kings list include:

DGI Note: The prices and yields are as of November 30, 2018. Source: December 2018 Dividend Champions List

Vectren Corp. (VVC) is one company that would likely depart the list in 2019 since it is in the process of being acquired. However, there are three companies which are set to potentially join the elite list of dividend kings by the end of 2019:

Atria Group (MO)
Black Hills Corp. (BKH)
H.B. Fuller Company (FUL)

This track record is a testament to the stability of the underlying businesses that generated the earnings growth necessary to grow the dividend for half a century (and longer). This track record is an indication of a business that is relatively immune to outside shocks. This resilience throughout the period manifests itself into the long stretch of dividend increases, spanning over half a century.

While these companies are not investment recommendations, I post them as examples for further study by serious dividend investors. Studying the businesses, their industries, could give you clues as to the type of business that can flourish over a half of a century.

As I mentioned above, I have been compiling the list of dividend kings since 2010. To view the historical changes in the list, please follow the links below:

2018 Dividend Kings List

Dividend Kings List for 2017

Dividend Kings for 2016

Dividend Kings List for 2015

The Dividend Kings List for 2014

The Dividend Kings List Keeps Expanding in 2013

Eleven Dividend Kings, Raising dividends for 50+ years

Ten Dividend Kings raising dividends for over 50 years