These Dividend Aristocrat stocks are Wall Street’s favorites
Dividend stocks are having a moment. With the stock market off to a rocky start so far this year, investors have been turning to the securities for income and perceived safety. The latest bouts of volatility came Monday following air strikes on Iran by the United States and Israel over the weekend. Also weighing on investors this year are fears that artificial intelligence will disrupt certain industries, and recent worries about stagflation. Dividend aristocrats, or companies that have boosted their payouts in each of the past 25 years, are among the strategies outperforming the broader market in 2026. The ProShares S & P 500 Dividend Aristocrats ETF is up 10% so far this year, compared to a gain of less than 1% for the S & P 500 . NOBL .SPX YTD line The ProShares S & P 500 Dividend Aristocrats ETF is outperforming the S & P 500 year to date. The performance of dividend stocks can be attributed to “investor preference for non-Tech companies, as well as dividends’ defensive nature,” Wolfe Research analyst Chris Senyek said in a note Friday. Software stocks, in particular, have been hit hard over concerns about artificial intelligence damaging their businesses. On Friday, they tumbled after digital-payments company Block said it would cut more than 4,000 employees citing AI, stoking fears that the new technology will wipe out jobs. With dividend stocks in favor, CNBC Pro screened for Dividend Aristocrat stocks that are loved by Wall Street analysts. Each one must be a member of the ProShares S & P 500 Dividend Aristocrats ETF, have a dividend yield of 1.5% or more — above the S & P 500 yield of 1.1% — and boast buy ratings from more than half the analysts covering the stock. Two stocks that made the cut just announced dividend increases in February: Coca-Cola and NextEra Energy . Coca-Cola lifted its quarterly payout by 4% to 53 cents per share, payable April 1 to shareholders of record as of March 13. It marks the 64th consecutive year of increases for the soft drink maker. Coca-Cola said it returned $8.8 billion in dividends to shareholders last year, bringing the total amount of dividends paid to roughly $102 billion since Jan. 1, 2010. The snack and beverage giant is among the elite group of American companies that make up a large part of Berkshire Hathaway’s portfolio. CEO Greg Abel, who took the reins from Warren Buffett on Jan. 1, said in his first annual lette r to shareholders on Saturday that Coke is among the businesses “we understand well, have a high regard for their leaders, and expect will compound over decades.” KO 1Y mountain Coca-Cola’s one-year performance Coca-Cola reported fourth-quarter adjusted earnings in February that topped Wall Street’s expectations, but adjusted revenue fell short for the first time in five years. Atlanta-based Coke currently pays a dividend yield equal to 2.6% and is up 15% year to date. NextEra Energy raised its quarterly dividend by 10% to about 62 cents per share, payable March 16 to holders of record as of Feb. 27. The utility, which operates seven nuclear plants, had previously said it planned for 10% annual dividend growth through 2026, using 2024 as a base, and 6% annual growth from year-end 2026 through 2028. The Florida-based power provider reported a fourth-quarter earnings beat in January and reaffirmed its full-year adjusted earnings guidance of $3.92 to $4.02 per share. In December, CEO John Ketchum said the company plans to build 15 gigawatts of new power generation for data center hubs by 2035. “Quite frankly, based on what we’re seeing today, we’ll be disappointed if we don’t do more,” he said at NextEra’s investor conference. He sees the potential to build 30 gigawatts of new generation by 2035. NEE 1Y mountain NextEra Energy’s one-year performance NextEra’s stock has a 2.7% dividend yield. It has gained nearly 16% so far this year. Lastly, Abbott Laboratories announced a 6.8% dividend increase , to 63 cents per share, in December. It was the 54th consecutive year of dividend growth, the company said. Abbott’s dividend has risen more than 70% since 2020, it noted. The medical device marker reported a revenue miss for its fourth quarter, although its adjusted earnings per share matched estimates. Abbott announced one of its largest deals in nearly a decade in November when it said it would buy cancer test maker Exact Sciences . The deal, worth up to $23 billion, would bring Exact Science’s colorectal cancer test Cologuard into Abbott’s diagnostics portfolio. The stock has a 2.2% dividend yield and is down 8% year to date.
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