2024 Canadian Dividend Aristocrat Index Requirements

For years, dividend investing has been a popular strategy among Canadian investors. For a dividend investor, the focus is on stable companies that consistently return a share of profits in the form of dividends. Not only do dividends make up a large part of the stock market return, but the companies that pay consistent dividends also tend to experience less volatility.

In Canada, the top dividend-paying stocks have their own index, the Canadian Dividend Aristocrats. Investors can use this index to select individual stocks for their dividend portfolio, or they can purchase the entire index using an ETF, specifically the iShares S&P/TSX Canadian Dividend Aristocrats Index ETF (CDZ). The companies in the Dividend Aristocrats Index have consistently raised their dividends for years, and here at MapleMoney, it serves as a primary source for our list of Top 100 Canadian Dividend Stocks for 2020.

About the Canadian Dividends Aristocrats Index

Before revealing this list of top Canadian dividend stocks across all sectors, let’s take a closer look at how the list is compiled and managed by reviewing the index objective, eligibility, as well as the annual rebalancing process.

Index Objective

According to the S&P, the Canadian Dividend Aristocrats Index is designed to measure the performance of companies included in the S&P Canada Broad Market Index (BMI) that follows a “managed-dividends policy of increasing dividends”. The index is reviewed and rebalanced every January.

Index Eligibility

The following criteria must be satisfied in order for a company to be considered a Dividend Aristocrat, and be included in the DA Index.

1. Must be a common stock or income trust listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and also a constituent of the S&P BMI Canada.
2. Must have increased its regular cash dividend every year for five years, although it can maintain the same dividend for no more than two consecutive years within the five year period.
3. The float-adjusted market capitalization of the security must be at least $300 million at the time of review (January).
4. For new additions to the index, companies must have increased their dividend in the first year of the prior five years. This does not apply to current members of the index.

Annual Rebalancing

Every January, the index is rebalanced, using a reference date of the last trading date in December. Changes to the index membership take place after the close of the last business day in January, based on the rebalancing done during the month. A company is added to the index during the rebalancing period providing that it meets the criteria outlined above. There is no cap on the maximum number of companies in the index, ensuring that all qualify. If a company fails to meet one or all of the above eligibility guidelines during the annual rebalancing period, they are deleted from the list. The index methodology includes concentration limits. During rebalancing, modifications ensure that no individual stock comprises more than 8% of the overall index weight.

Why Should I Hold Dividend Aristocrat Stocks In My Portfolio?

Canadian Dividend Aristocrats offers advantages that riskier growth stocks don’t. For instance:

1. Dividend Aristocrats are stocks that you can buy, hold and collect dividends from. There is no need to check daily price movements.
2. Dividend Aristocrats are generally blue chip stocks with stable income streams. These companies have a steady cash flow and have a record of returning profits to their shareholders.
3. These firms generally exhibit lower stock price volatility while delivering attractive and even superior returns.

Without further ado, here is the Canadian Dividend Aristocrat list for 2020, in alphabetical order:

Canadian Dividend Aristocrats (TXDV Index)

Name	Symbol	Price	P/E (ttm)	EPS (ttm)	Trailing Annual Dividend	Dividend Yield
Aecon Group Inc	ARE	11.7	10.45	1.12	0.58	4.96%
Alaris Royalty Corp	AD	7.52	7.67	0.98	1.65	21.94%
Algonquin Power and Utilities Corp	AQN	17.64	12	1.04	0.55	3.12%
Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc Cl B Sv	ATD.B	32.84	N/A	1.84	0.51	1.55%
Allied Properties Real Estate Inv Trust	AP.UN	42.34	7.59	5.58	1.6	3.78%
Atco Ltd Cl.I NV	ACO.X	35.34	7.91	4.47	1.62	4.58%
Bank of Montreal	BMO	66.95	7.65	8.75	4.12	6.15%
Bank of Nova Scotia	BNS	54.59	8.02	6.81	3.54	6.48%
BCE Inc	BCE	56.73	16.83	3.37	3.17	5.59%
Boralex Inc	BLX	24.09	N/A	-0.43	0.66	2.74%
Boyd Group Services Inc	BYD	137.28	36.17	3.8	0.54	0.39%
Brookfield Asset Management Inc Cl.A Lv	BAM.A	40.9	24.92	1.16	0.43	1.05%
Cae Inc	CAE	15.87	11.93	1.33	0.42	2.65%
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce	CM	76.62	6.83	11.22	5.68	7.41%
Canadian National Railway Co.	CNR	107.73	18.48	5.83	2.15	2.00%
Canadian Tire Corporation Cl A NV	CTC.A	81.59	7.33	11.13	4.01	4.91%
Canadian Utilities Ltd Cl.A NV	CU	31.62	9.76	3.24	1.69	5.34%
Capital Power Corp	CPX	23.92	33.22	0.72	1.86	7.78%
Ccl Industries Inc Cl B NV	CCL.B	40.26	15.14	2.66	0.68	1.69%
CDN Apartment Un	CAR.UN	41.23	5.49	7.51	1.37	3.32%
CDN Natural Res	CNQ	18.78	4.14	4.54	1.5	7.99%
CDN Western Bank	CWB	17.87	N/A	3.11	1.12	6.27%
Chartwell Retirement Residences	CSH.UN	8.54	1705.27	0.01	0.6	7.03%
Choice Properties REIT	CHP.UN	12.65	N/A	-1.87	0.74	5.85%
Cogeco Communications Inc	CCA	94.15	13.37	8.64	2.16	2.29%
Cogeco Inc Sv	CGO	83.6	11.24	9.13	1.77	2.12%
CT Real Estate Investment Trust	CRT.UN	11.64	9.76	1.19	0.76	6.53%
Dollarama Inc	DOL	38.51	21.63	1.78	0.18	0.47%
Emera Incorporated	EMA	52.03	18.85	2.76	2.38	4.57%
Empire Company Limited	EMP.A	27.8	14.33	N/A	0.47	1.69%
Enbridge Inc	ENB	39.6	15.06	2.63	2.95	7.45%
Enerflex Ltd	EFX	5.98	3.54	1.69	0.43	7.19%
Enghouse Systems Limited	ENGH	42.3	32.29	1.31	0.51	1.21%
Equitable Group Inc	EQB	49.87	4.17	11.97	1.29	2.59%
Exchange Income Corp	EIF	16.56	6.65	2.49	2.23	13.47%
Fiera Capital Corp	FSZ	5.55	N/A	-0.14	0.84	15.14%
Finning Intl	FTT	14.94	10.09	1.48	0.82	5.49%
Firstservice Corp	FSV	99.5	N/A	-6.58	0.6	0.60%
Fortis Inc	FTS	51.08	13.51	3.78	1.83	3.58%
Franco-Nevada Corp	FNV	152.84	59.1	1.83	0.99	0.65%
Genworth MI Canada Inc	MIC	26.86	5.46	4.92	2.07	7.71%
Gildan Activewear Inc	GIL	17.77	9.9	1.27	0.54	3.04%
Goeasy Ltd	GSY	30.05	7.21	4.17	1.24	4.13%
Granite Real Estate Investment Trust	GRT.UN	55.14	7.8	7.07	2.81	5.10%
Great-West Lifeco Inc	GWO	21.67	8.69	2.49	1.65	7.61%
Imperial Oil	IMO	16.97	5.89	2.88	0.85	5.01%
Industrial Alliance Ins & Fin Srv Inc	IAG	38.94	6.08	6.4	1.77	4.55%
Innergex Renewable Energy Inc	INE	17.93	N/A	-0.25	0.7	3.90%
Intact Financial Corp	IFC	128.12	25.22	5.08	3.04	2.37%
Inter Pipeline Ltd	IPL	8.19	6.25	1.31	1.71	20.88%
Interrent Real Estate Investment Trust	IIP.UN	12.61	3.98	3.17	0.29	2.30%
Intertape Polymer	ITP	9.48	9.58	0.7	0.58	6.12%
Keyera Corp	KEY	13.07	6.31	2.07	1.85	14.15%
Laurentian Bank	LB	28.25	7.91	3.57	2.64	9.35%
Loblaw CO	L	72.48	24.99	2.9	1.24	1.71%
Magna International Inc	MG	41.06	5.2	5.59	1.46	3.56%
Manulife Fin	MFC	16.04	5.79	2.77	1	6.23%
Maple Leaf Foods	MFI	24.97	41.62	0.6	0.58	2.32%
Methanex Corp	MX	18.51	12.97	1.01	1.41	7.62%
Metro Inc	MRU	57.71	21.7	2.66	0.8	1.39%
Mty Food Group Inc	MTY	17.54	5.69	3.08	0.66	3.76%
National Bank of Canada	NA	50.82	7.81	6.51	2.72	5.35%
New Flyer Industries Inc	NFI	14	10.65	0.93	1.29	9.21%
Onex Corp	ONEX	48.81	0.81	42.74	0.28	0.57%
Open Text Corp	OTEX	48.13	28.15	1.21	0.68	1.41%
Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd	OR	10.67	N/A	-1.55	0.2	1.87%
Parkland Fuel Corp	PKI	24.36	9.55	2.55	1.19	4.89%
Pembina Pipeline Corp	PPL	24.62	9.62	2.65	2.36	9.59%
Power Corporation of Canada Sv	POW	20.1	7.94	2.53	1.6	7.96%
Premium Brands Holdings Corp	PBH	72.69	31.06	2.34	2.1	2.89%
Quebecor Inc Cl.B Sv	QBR.B	30.11	13.88	2.55	0.39	1.30%
Richelieu Hardware Ltd	RCH	21.61	18.31	1.18	0.25	1.16%
Ritchie Bros Auctioneers Inc	RBA	49.51	25.76	1.36	0.76	1.54%
Royal Bank of Canada	RY	82.08	9.12	9	4.14	5.04%
Saputo Inc	SAP	34.57	22.3	1.55	0.67	1.94%
Savaria Corp	SIS	10.02	18.91	0.53	0.43	4.29%
Secure Energy Services Inc	SES	1.17	118.33	0.01	0.27	23.08%
Sleep Country Canada Holdings Inc	ZZZ	9.49	6.37	1.49	0.77	8.11%
Smartcentres Real Estate Investment Trust	SRU.UN	17.96	9.68	1.86	1.81	10.08%
Stantec Inc	STN	36.92	21.22	1.74	0.58	1.57%
Stella Jones Inc	SJ	29.82	12.58	2.37	0.56	1.88%
Summit Industrial Income REIT	SMU.UN	8.05	6.3	1.28	0.53	6.58%
Sun Life Financial Inc	SLF	42.43	9.64	4.4	2.1	4.95%
Suncor Energy Inc	SU	22.98	12.35	1.86	1.68	7.31%
Tc Energy Corp	TRP	60.65	14.2	4.27	3	4.95%
Telus Corp	T	22.28	15.37	1.45	1.13	5.07%
Tfi International Inc	TFII	29.18	7.68	3.63	0.98	3.36%
The North West Company Inc	NWC	21.43	13.23	1.62	1.31	6.11%
Thomson Reuters Corp	TRI	93.79	21.27	3.11	1.44	1.54%
Toromont Ind	TIH	59.24	16.97	3.49	1.08	1.82%
Toronto-Dominion Bank	TD	55.79	8.47	6.59	2.96	5.31%
Transalta Renewables Inc	RNW	13.86	20.38	0.68	0.94	6.78%
Transcontinental Inc Cl A Sv	TCL.A	11.79	7.21	1.65	0.89	7.55%
Uni Select Inc	UNS	4.54	N/A	-0.47	0.28	6.17%
Weston George	WN	101.22	80.33	1.26	2.09	2.06%

*Data as of April 3, 2020

Dividend Aristocrats ETF

Instead of purchasing individual stocks from the Canadian Dividend Aristocrat Index, you can purchase the entire index with an ETF. The iShares S&P/TSX Canadian Dividend Aristocrats Index ETF (CDZ) is meant to mirror the overall Canadian DA Index, less any fees and expenses. The MER is .66%, very reasonable and much lower than your typical actively managed Canadian dividend fund. The ETF is ideal for anyone looking to match the average return, and who prefers an automatic, hands-off approach to investing. It’s also good for smaller portfolios, in that it achieves diversification regardless of the purchase amount.

Final Thoughts on Dividend Investing in 2020

Whether you prefer individual stocks or ETF investing, the Canadian Dividend Aristocrats Index makes it easy to hold the highest-quality dividend companies that Canada can offer. For additional reading, make sure you check out our list of the Top 100 Canadian Dividend Stocks for 2020, which is made up of stocks from the DA Index, as well as the Simply Investing Report.