10 Dividend Aristocrats Expected to Deliver Big Gains in 2020

Serial dividend raisers, such as the Dividend Aristocrats, are beloved by income hunters.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Serial dividend raisers, such as the Dividend Aristocrats, are beloved by income hunters. Remember: A steady payout is only half of the formula for successful income investing. The big returns come over time, from regular dividend increases, which lift the yield an investor receives on his or her original cost basis.

But while these dividend-hiking stalwarts usually aren't known for their hot growth prospects, a few are indeed poised to outperform in 2020.

To find price upside among dependable dividend stocks, we started with the Dividend Aristocrats. For the uninitiated, the Aristocrats are an index of 57 S&P 500 companies currently that have raised their payouts annually for at least 25 years.

Next, we calculated the implied upside for all 57 Aristocrats based on analysts' average price targets. A price target is the level at which analysts forecast a stock will trade at some point in the future, typically 12 months out.

After running the numbers, we were left with 10 Dividend Aristocrats that offered projected upside of at least 10% in the year ahead. Add in the contributions from their dividends, and these primarily defensive stocks may deliver significant offense in 2020.

Disclaimer

Share prices are as of Nov. 12 unless otherwise noted. Price targets and other data are courtesy of S&P Global Market Intelligence. Companies are listed by expected share-price gains over the next 12 months, from lowest to highest. The list of Dividend Aristocrats is maintained by S&P Dow Jones Indices. Dividend yields are calculated by annualizing the most recent payout and dividing by the share price. Dividend history based on company information and S&P data. Dividend-growth streaks include the current year if the company has announced a dividend hike in 2019.

Dan Burrows
Senior Investing Writer, Kiplinger.com

Dan Burrows is Kiplinger's senior investing writer, having joined the august publication full time in 2016.


A long-time financial journalist, Dan is a veteran of SmartMoney, MarketWatch, CBS MoneyWatch, InvestorPlace and DailyFinance. He has written for The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Consumer Reports, Senior Executive and Boston magazine, and his stories have appeared in the New York Daily News, the San Jose Mercury News and Investor's Business Daily, among other publications. As a senior writer at AOL's DailyFinance, Dan reported market news from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange and hosted a weekly video segment on equities.


Once upon a time – before his days as a financial reporter and assistant financial editor at legendary fashion trade paper Women's Wear Daily – Dan worked for Spy magazine, scribbled away at Time Inc. and contributed to Maxim magazine back when lad mags were a thing. He's also written for Esquire magazine's Dubious Achievements Awards.


In his current role at Kiplinger, Dan writes about equities, fixed income, currencies, commodities, funds, macroeconomics, demographics, real estate, cost of living indexes and more.


Dan holds a bachelor's degree from Oberlin College and a master's degree from Columbia University.


Disclosure: Dan does not trade stocks or other securities. Rather, he dollar-cost averages into cheap funds and index funds and holds them forever in tax-advantaged accounts.