When the ground shakes, investors reach for companies that have been paying and raising dividends longer than most people have been investing. These five Dividend Aristocrats have earned that reputation quarter after quarter, decade after decade.
With an expense ratio of 0.13%, a yield of about 3.7%, and 155 holdings, including a great deal of real estate investment trusts (REITs), the Vanguard Real Estate ETF ( NYSEARCA: VNQ) is a safe, long-term real estate opportunity. In fact, some of the ETF's top holdings include Welltower, Prologis, American Tower Corp., Equinix, Digital Realty Trust, and Simon Property Group. Plus, it just paid a quarterly dividend of just over 86 cents on June 30. Before that, it paid a dividend of just over 93 cents on March 27. Making it even more attractive is the recovery in commercial real estate. According to analysts at Deloitte, the CRE market is showing signs of recovery in 2025, with some predicting a generational opportunity, as noted in Deloitte's 2025 Commercial Real Estate Outlook. Since bottoming out at around $76 in April, the ETF is now up to $92.81. From here, we'd like to see it rally back to $96 a share. While we wait, we can collect its quarterly payouts.
After examining the 66 companies in the S&P Dividend Aristocrats index, we found that these firms exhibit robustness due to their proven history of increasing dividends for 25 years.
