It’s never easy being a retail investor trying to dig through the mountains of information searching for a deal. We don’t have a staff to read every company’s financial reports and comb through their balance sheets. Well, fear not, I have done a bit of the heavy lifting to (hopefully) find some diamonds in the rough! This is my list of September U.S. Dividend Kings.
About my list
There are over 5000 stocks on the U.S. exchanges and only 7 made my September list! As you can see by the list below, it’s not easy being a U.S. Dividend King and these stocks all had to pass a series of test to make it on the list.
The Criteria
- The company must have 25 or more years of uninterrupted dividend growth.
- The company must have a Graham number greater than its current share price. *I considered BEN close enough (cough,cough I’m long BEN)
- Its payout ratio must be under 70%
- Its P/E ratio must be under 15
- The company must have a price to book ratio under 2
| Ticker Symbol | Streak Years | Div Yield | Aug 31 Price | Graham Value | TTM P/E | TTM EPS | Ann Dividend | Payout Ratio | P/Book | 5-yr DRG | |
| 1 | EFSI | 29 | 3.37 | $23.75 | $33.86 | 10.75 | $2.21 | $0.80 | 36.20 | 1.03 | 3 |
| 2 | CPKF | 25 | 2.37 | $21.10 | $26.90 | 13.44 | $1.57 | $0.50 | 31.85 | 1.03 | 9.3 |
| 3 | ORI | 35 | 3.90 | $19.23 | $24.10 | 12.57 | $1.53 | $0.75 | 49.02 | 1.14 | 1.4 |
| 4 | AFL | 33 | 2.21 | $74.18 | $86.70 | 12.20 | $6.08 | $1.64 | 26.97 | 1.35 | 6.7 |
| 5 | THFF | 28 | 2.45 | $40.88 | $47.52 | 13.76 | $2.97 | $1.00 | 33.67 | 1.21 | 1.5 |
| 6 | CTBI | 36 | 3.47 | $36.86 | $40.88 | 13.96 | $2.64 | $1.28 | 48.48 | 1.31 | 1.9 |
| 7 | BEN | 36 | 1.97 | $36.50 | $35.26 | 13.47 | $2.71 | $0.72 | 26.57 | 1.79 | 15.4 |
These are the companies that made it onto the list.
| Ticker | Company name | Industry |
| EFSI | Eagle Financial Services | Banking |
| CPKF | Chesapeake Financial Shares | Banking |
| ORI | Old Republic International | Insurance |
| AFL | AFLAC Inc. | Insurance |
| THFF | First Financial Corp. | Banking |
| CTBI | Community Trust Banc. | Banking |
| BEN | Franklin Resources | Financial Services |
Final Thoughts
The best way to use my U.S. Dividend Kings list is as a starting point for your own research. Don’t feel confined to my methods. Look up the values that mean the most to you. Like any screening method , the purpose of the U.S. Dividend Kings list is to help you dig through the stock market to find some hidden gems, which can then be further research by you.
Disclosure. I’m long BEN and ORI and may or may not purchase shares in any of the stocks in this post.
Resources from: Morningstar, Google Finance, Zacks,
The U.S. Dividend Champions are maintained by Dave Fish of Moneypaper’s DirectInvesting.com.
Interesting. I’ve only heard of 3 of those names. I’ve always liked BEN but I just never have pulled the trigger. I look at it often though.
Adam – IWTRS recently posted…Summary of Recent Buys – Week of September 5, 2016
There are a lot of banks and financials that made it on the list. I think the whole sector is undervalued right now due to the Fed.
I own shares of BEN and will probably keep them forever. Easy company to understand and a fantastic track record.
I’m also looking at Aflac but I’m going to wait until the whole market softens a bit.
Thanks for reading Adam.
Thanks Steve. This is a great addendum to the Canadian list you posted earlier in the week. I’ve had my eye on BEN for awhile and may start dollar cost averaging in soon. Thanks again and have a great weekend!
Jay recently posted…Stocks to Watch in September 2016 (Part 1)
Thanks for reading Jay,
I like Ben and might add more but I still think the S&P is a bit expensive overall right now.
Yikes, looking at my list again I own ORI also. Need to update disclosure 🙂
I own a lot of banks so I have to be careful not to load up too much on a single sector.
Awesome info, you and john from liveoffdivenends are really increasing my knowledge about the market.
Thanks Fatal Jay.
Once you have a grasp of all the jargon, it is very easy to understand.
If your company makes money, there is a good chance they will give some back to you (the shareholder)
Love the consistent application of the metrics. Agree, you need to have a set screener and stick to it. The best way to identify undervalued stocks on a consistent basis. Not really that surprised your list in heaving in banking/financial institutions. I’ve seen a lot of great value in this industry as well recently. Have one of the stocks jumped to the top of your list over the others?
Bert
I already own ORI and BEN. I really like AFALC but saying that I’m already heavily weighted in insurance/banking.
Just a note Archer Daniels Midlands was very close to making the list and I love ADM. I have owned it in the past and wish that I never sold it.
Not surprising to see insurance/banking stocks here. I bought a bunch of PFG earlier this year otherwise I’d probably pounce on one of these. I wonder how much these will drop if a correction happens in the next few months. These sectors could offer tremendous value on a correction.
Investment Hunting recently posted…Buying More Shares of Magna International
You took the words out of my mouth IH!
Nice list Steve, I wonder if any will make it into your purchases this month.
It’s always interesting to read about other people’s thoughts although we will not buy any for a long time (being Australian).
Tristan
Dividends Down Under recently posted…Who are the real Joneses?
Thanks Tristan,
I’m just back from Cuba (no internet)so I apologize for the late reply.
I use the same methods when buying U.S. stocks as well as Canadian. I haven’t looked at the Australian market but I might throw together a screen if I get a chance.
Steve
What do you think will drive ORI moving forward? I’ve owned ORI and know it is mainly a dividend king but got frustrated with the lack of upward movement in the stock price.
To be honest TheDividendLife, I don’t think ORI is a good choice for growth right now. I have owned it for years and for me it’s just a set and forget holding.
The dividend looks stable and it is not going anywhere.
That is okay with me with so few choices out there right now.
Cheers.
Interesting.. I definitely have a new go-to place to learn more. It’s obvious that you know your thing here. Thank you for sharing!
Thanks Jen.