Get me started with dividend kings

Screening Filters

1. Market Cap ≥ $1,000,000,000

   • Purpose: Focus on established, financially stable companies.
   • Rationale: Dividend Kings are almost always mid- to large-cap businesses with long, durable operating histories. Setting a $1B minimum filters out micro‑caps and many smaller, less stable firms that are unlikely to have 50+ years of dividend growth.

2. Beta: LowRisk, ModerateRisk, HighRisk (i.e., no exclusion by beta)

   • Purpose: Keep the opportunity set broad with respect to volatility.
   • Rationale: Some Dividend Kings are extremely stable (low beta); others may be more cyclical (higher beta). By allowing all beta “buckets,” the screener avoids unintentionally excluding legitimate Dividend King candidates just because of their volatility profile.

3. Return on Equity (ROE) ≥ 5%

   • Purpose: Ensure companies are at least modestly profitable and efficient with shareholders’ equity.
   • Rationale: Genuine Dividend Kings typically have strong, consistent profitability that supports long-term dividend growth. A minimum ROE filter removes weak or chronically unprofitable businesses that are less likely to sustain and grow dividends over decades.

4. Dividend Yield (TTM) between 1.5% and 8%

   • Purpose: Target a reasonable, “sweet spot” dividend yield range.

   • Rationale:

     • Below ~1.5%: dividend is often too small to be meaningful for income-focused investors.
     • Above ~8%: such high yields frequently signal elevated risk or potential dividend cuts.

     Most Dividend Kings tend to sit somewhere in this middle range—enough yield to matter, but not so high that it looks unsustainably stretched.

5. Dividend Payout Ratio between 20% and 100%

   • Purpose: Screen for dividends that are meaningful but not obviously unsustainable.

   • Rationale:

     • Below 20%: the dividend may be just a token; the company isn’t really sharing much of its earnings.
     • Above 100%: suggests the company is paying out more than it earns, which is usually not sustainable over long periods.

     Dividend Kings, by definition, have sustained and grown dividends for decades, which generally requires a reasonable payout ratio—high enough to reward shareholders, low enough to allow reinvestment and resilience.

Why Results Match Your “Dividend Kings” Goal

• The filters collectively focus on larger, established, profitable companies with meaningful, sustainable dividends, which is exactly the profile of most Dividend Kings.
• While “Dividend King” status specifically requires 50+ consecutive years of dividend increases (a separate metric not shown here), these filters create a high-quality dividend universe that is a sensible starting point. From that list, you can then narrow down to actual Dividend Kings (or close “Dividend Aristocrats”) by checking their dividend growth streaks.