Top 10 Dividend Champion Sectors

Thanksgiving is behind us. Christmas is just ahead with the new year following closely. There are many things for which to be thankful, and I am. As a Dividend Farmer, I appreciate the investment opportunities and rewards provided by dividend companies with long histories of payments and dividend growth.

The year is drawing to a close so I thought I’d post the Top 10 Dividend Champions by metric across a variety of benchmarks. The first post starts with the Top 10 Sectors for Dividend Champions based on the number of Champions within each. Data is gleaned from DRIPinvesting.org which is a great resource for dividend growth investors. I recommend bookmarking it for future reference and analysis. This is, after all, DIY investing.

Sector	Dividend Champions	Average Years Growing Dividends
Financials	35	33.4
Industrials	27	40.6
Consumer Staples	17	48.5
Utilities	15	42.8
Materials	12	38.4
Consumer Discretionary	8	46.8
Real Estate	7	31.1
Health Care	5	40.0
Energy	4	37.3
Information Technology	4	37.0

There are 138 Dividend Champions in total and 134 in the Top 10. Financials and Industrials account for just over 46% of the Top 10 shown above. It’s possible to overweight your portfolio with those two sectors if you’re not careful. Be aware of portfolio balance and diversity as you make your selections. Keeping an eye on Dividend Contenders as well as Champions is prudent to ensure you’re avoiding excess portfolio concentration and mitigating investment risk.

Although firms achieve Dividend Champion status once they’ve increased their dividend payments for 25 consecutive years, you’ll see there isn’t a sector averaging fewer years than 30 in the list. While past performance isn’t indicative of future results, it’s hard to argue with successful longevity. Firms producing long-term dividend growth warrant additional consideration in my investment decision making. Should they do the same for you?

The thoughts expressed here are those of the author, who is not a financial professional.  Opinions should not be considered investment advice.  They are presented for discussion and information purposes only.  For specific investment advice or assistance, please contact a registered investment advisor, licensed broker, or other financial professional.