3 Dividend Aristocrats That Wall Street Loves

It's easy to love what dividend stocks have to offer. In addition to the upside potential that equities in general provide, the cash income from dividend-paying companies is a second source of returns—a vital (and relatively tax-friendly) ballast for when market performance isn't going our way.

But some dividend stocks take the generosity a step further by occasionally increasing the amount they pay out to their shareholders. Others go the extra mile by doing so every year. And a select few really set themselves apart from the crowd by doing so every year for so many years that someone decided to slap a label on them:

Dividend Aristocrats.

Today, I'm going to tell you a little bit about the Dividend Aristocrats, then highlight the 10 best-rated members of a particular blue-chip subset called the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats.

Disclaimer: This article does not constitute individualized investment advice. Individual securities, funds, and/or other investments appear for your consideration and not as personalized investment recommendations. Act at your own discretion.

The S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats

The term "Dividend Aristocrats" generally refers to stocks with some sort of track record of dividend growth. There are, in fact, many types of Dividend Aristocrats—European Aristocrats, Canadian Aristocrats, mid-cap Aristocrats, and so on—and each group has a certain set of criteria for inclusion, including a baseline of dividend growth.

But most discussions around Dividend Aristocrats revolve around one particular subset: the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats.

The S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats are the biggest, blue-chip dividend growers that the U.S. equity markets have to offer. And ultimately, they have to meet just two criteria for inclusion:

1. Be members of the S&P 500.
2. Have increased dividends for at least 25 consecutive years.

That's pretty easy to remember. However, that second criterion needs a little explaining.

Related: 8 Best High-Yield Dividend Stocks: The Pros' Picks

There's More Than One Way to Grow Dividends Every Year

Most companies' annual dividend increases go exactly the way you'd expect: Every year, they raise the amount they regularly pay across the calendar. 

Example: Woodley Inc. (KW) distributed $1 per share every quarter in 2026, then to start 2027, it increased that payout to $1.10 per share across the whole year. 2027 would count as one year toward the 25-year streak.

However, technically speaking, dividend increases are calculated across the entire year. So what really mattered wasn't the increase from $1 to $1.10 per share, but the fact that Woodley Inc. paid out $4 per share across 2026, then $4.40 per share across 2027. Why does that matter? Well …

Example: Woodley Inc. started 2026 paying 90¢ per share per quarter. In mid-2026, it raised its quarterly payout to $1 per share. It paid $3.80 per share (90¢ + 90¢ + $1 + $1) across all of 2026. The next year, Woodley Inc. didn't increase its quarterly dividend, so it paid out $1 per share quarterly, and thus $4 per share ($1 + $1 + $1 + $1) across the whole year. 2027 would still count as one year toward the 25-year streak. (However, the company would have to increase the quarterly dividend in 2028 to earn another year of growth.)

In short: A Dividend Aristocrat doesn't necessarily have to raise its periodic dividend every year to achieve a streak of annual dividend growth. (But they frequently do.)

Lastly, whenever a Dividend Aristocrat announces a dividend increase, we in the media typically give them the benefit of the doubt and add another year to their dividend-growth streak. But on rare occasions, the year doesn't end up qualifying, usually resulting in a broken streak and exclusion from the Aristocrats.

Example: Woodley Inc. paid $1 per share quarterly in 2026, good for $4 per share across the entire year. In January 2027, the company increased the quarterly dividend to $1.10 per share. In mid-year, sudden cash-flow issues forced the company to reduce its dividend by 50%, to 55¢ per share. Woodley Inc. paid out $3.30 per share ($1.10 + $1.10 + 55¢ + 55¢) across 2027. That would not count as a year of dividend growth, thus Woodley Inc.'s dividend-growth streak would end.

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The Best-Rated Dividend Aristocrats Right Now

Currently, there are 69 S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats—a group of stocks that most people would generally consider to be stable, dependable companies.

But that doesn't mean they all make equally worthy investments.

Let's separate the wheat from the chaff. I'll show you the 10 best-rated Dividend Aristocrats right now, as determined by their consensus analyst rating, provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence. S&P boils down consensus ratings down to a numerical system where …

• 1 to 1.5: Strong Buy
• 1.5 to 2.5: Buy
• 2.5 to 3.5: Hold
• 3.5 to 4.5: Sell
• 4.5 to 5: Strong Sell

All of the Dividend Aristocrats on this list have a rating of 2 or less, indicating that at worst they enjoy a pretty firm consensus Buy rating, if not an outright Strong Buy rating.

Let's look at three picks from my larger list of the 10 best-rated Dividend Aristocrats.

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Linde

• Sector: Materials
• Market cap: $226.4 billion
• Dividend yield: 1.3%
• Consensus analyst rating: 1.70 (Buy)

Materials companies are often extremely cyclical investments that tend to rise and fall based on broad-based economic trends and industrial demand. That said, a few have passed the test of time and managed to deliver consistent dividends regardless.

Case in point: Ireland-based Linde plc (LIN). Linde is the world's largest industrial gas producer, offering oxygen, nitrogen, argon, helium, hydrogen, electronic gases, acetylene, and rare gases. It also produces air separation, synthesis, olefin, and other plants for third-party customers. And it does this across every continent.

It's a cyclical business, but Linde offers some shelter from the economic shocks that many of its businessmates suffer. That's in part because of its diverse offerings, but also because of the industries it supplies.

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"We expect Linde to benefit in 2026 from increased demand for its industrial gases," says Argus Research's Yates (Buy). "The company has a strong presence in many defensive end markets, including healthcare, food and beverages, and electronics that should generate consistent revenues even in a soft economic environment. In addition, Linde currently manages a significant $10 billion backlog of projects, mostly under contract with bluechip companies, which provide strong and steady cash flow and maintain a solid balance sheet."

Linde's business has been so relatively stable that it has—by virtue of its 2018 merger with fellow gas giant Praxair—been able to deliver 33 consecutive years of increased dividends to its shareholders, most recently a 7% hike announced in February 2026, to $1.60 per share.

The company's most recent quarter showed weakness in its healthcare unit. However, "LIN management is aggressively going after this and expects to show improvement into 3Q, and indicated potential strategic actions if it doesn't meet growth/margin targets over time," adds UBS analyst Joshua Spector, who also rates LIN at Buy. He and Yates are two of 21 Buy calls on the stock, versus five Holds and just one Sell.

While long-term buy-and-holders might look away from the materials sector, Linde sticks out as both a Dividend Aristocrat and a surprisingly stable "forever stock."

Related: 7 Best Vanguard Dividend Funds [Low-Cost Income]

Abbott Laboratories

• Sector: Healthcare
• Market cap: $198.5 billion
• Dividend yield: 2.2%
• Consensus analyst rating: 1.59 (Buy)

Abbott Laboratories (ABT) is a large healthcare firm that develops, makes, and sells medical devices, diagnostic products, nutritional products, and generic pharmaceuticals. Among other things, it's responsible for FreeStyle (and FreeStyle Libre) glucose monitors, Pedialyte hydration products, Similac formulas, PediaSure children's nutritional products, and BinaxNow COVID-19 antigen tests.

It's also the owner of Cologuard screening tests following the March 2026 closure of its acquisition of Exact Sciences.

Medical devices are Abbott's biggest breadwinner at nearly half of revenues, and they've been a key driver of growth of late. The company has reported 13 consecutive quarters of double-digit top-line growth in medical devices; in the first quarter of 2026, it enjoyed a 14% year-over-year improvement in electrophysiology revenues and 11% growth in heart failure product sales.

Related: The 10 Best Dividend ETFs [Get Income + Diversify]

Abbott has fallen into bear-market territory in 2026, with short-term headwinds including weakness in nutrition that might not wane until this year's second half. But the company has been sharply rebounding over the past month, and the pros remain bullish, with ABT commanding 23 Buys against six Holds and no Sells.

"Our rating on Abbott Laboratories is Buy and underpinned by the company’s upbeat outlook," says Argus Research analyst David Toung. "The company sees stronger topline growth in the second half of 2026, driven by cancer diagnostics, cardiovascular, and an improving Nutritional Products segment. Abbott plans three product launches in Cardiovascular as well as expanded reimbursement coverage for FreeStyle Libre."

"We are optimistic on an organic growth recovery through '26, as we see underlying growth drivers as intact to work back to a high-single-digit growth profile in 2027 and fewer headwinds plus increasing [Exact Sciences] contributions in 2027," add Jefferies analysts, who also rate the stock at Buy. "We see ABT as a top-quality, well-run franchise and view the stock's valuation as attractive. ABT is a show-me story but with a good set of businesses and pipeline that we think can recover with better execution."

Abbott is a Dividend King, boasting 54 years of uninterrupted dividend growth. The most recent increase to the quarterly payout—a 7% hike to 63¢ per share—was announced in December 2025. The distribution itself dates back more than a century, to 1924.

Related: 8 Best High-Yield Dividend ETFs for Income-Hungry Investors

West Pharmaceutical

• Sector: Healthcare
• Market cap: $24.8 billion
• Dividend yield: 0.3%
• Consensus analyst rating: 1.44 (Strong Buy)

When is a pharmaceutical company not a pharmaceutical company? When it's West Pharmaceutical (WST).

Apologies to those of you who hate riddles, but West Pharmaceuticals doesn't deal in drugs. Instead, it designs, manufactures, and sells the containment and delivery systems that house drugs. Its products include syringe and cartridge components, stoppers and seals for injectable packaging systems, entire self-injection systems, and drug containment solutions (including a cyclic olefin polymer called Crystal Zenith). It also provides analytical lab services, regulatory expertise, and other integrated solutions.

In short: Whereas buying a pharmaceutical company is a play on the success of that pharmaceutical company's treatments, buying West Pharmaceutical is effectively a play on the overall growth of the pharmaceutical industry … and, of course, West's ability to convince other pharmaceutical companies that it's the ideal packaging partner.

Related: The 7 Best REITs to Buy for the Rest of 2026

Wall Street is certainly convinced—the stock enjoys 14 Buys versus two Holds and no Sells.

"We rate the stock Outperform, and that rating is predicated on West being a high-quality, franchise name that provides quality and dependable earnings and cash flow, a clear leadership competitive position, and access to attractive end-market trends without single-product or technology risk," William Blair analysts Matt Larew and Jacob Krahenbuhl wrote in January.

More recently, the pair praised the company's stellar Q2 results: "This was another standout quarter for West as it delivered a second consecutive quarter of double-digit organic growth, led by several durable growth drivers (Annex 1, biosimilars, GLPs, pricing) that should lead to continued upside throughout the rest of the year and into 2027. ... Like last quarter, we view this as another thesis-affirming print for West."

A business built on the broader growth of the healthcare sector has also meant growing income over time, which WST has been happy to increasingly share with investors. In late July 2025, the company announced its 33rd consecutive hike to the cash distribution—a 22¢-per-share dividend it began paying in November.

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