Dividend champions are companies that have consistently increased dividends for at least 25 years.

The current full list includes over 100 stocks, some of which may be on their last legs soon to end their dividend streaks. Instead of providing the entire list, to make it more meaningful I cut it down to the companies that have grown their dividends the fastest over the past five years.

Fast dividend growth implies fast and sustainable cash-flow growth. No executive is going to grow dividends by 10, 15, 20% if they don’t think it can be sustained. So a fast rate of dividend growth gives me greater confidence in the future prospects for the companies.

US Dividend Champions: Highest 5yr Dividend Growth Rates

Name	Symbol	Streak Yrs	Aug 31/20 Price	Yield	Qtly Div	5yr Growth	10yr Growth
A.O. Smith Corp.	AOS	26	$48.97	1.96	$0.24	24.57	21.50
Cintas Corp.	CTAS	37	$333.24	0.77	$2.55	24.57	18.43
Lowe’s Companies	LOW	58	$164.69	1.46	$0.60	20.23	19.39
Illinois Tool Works	ITW	46	$197.55	2.31	$1.14	18.46	12.62
Roper Technologies Inc.	ROP	27	$427.19	0.48	$0.51	18.25	18.81
NACCO Industries	NC	35	$20.50	3.76	$0.19	17.91	13.47
Franklin Resources	BEN	40	$21.06	5.13	$0.27	16.72	14.02
Hormel Foods Corp.	HRL	53	$50.98	1.82	$0.23	16.00	16.03
Sherwin-Williams Co.	SHW	42	$671.05	0.80	$1.34	15.49	12.28
Computer Services Inc.	CSVI	49	$60.00	1.67	$0.25	15.47	15.79
Lincoln Electric Holdings	LECO	25	$96.71	2.03	$0.49	15.36	13.29
BancFirst Corp. OK	BANF	26	$44.00	2.91	$0.32	13.95	10.61
Carlisle Companies	CSL	44	$130.95	1.60	$0.53	13.88	11.07
S&P Global Inc.	SPGI	47	$366.42	0.73	$0.67	13.70	9.74
Nordson Corp.	NDSN	57	$186.49	0.84	$0.39	13.48	14.51
Automatic Data Proc.	ADP	44	$139.09	2.62	$0.91	13.39	10.61
VF Corp.	VFC	47	$65.75	2.92	$0.48	12.76	13.04
Jack Henry & Associates	JKHY	30	$165.42	1.04	$0.43	12.70	16.75
Canadian National Railway	CNI	25	$104.58	1.66	$0.44	12.33	13.77
Medtronic plc	MDT	43	$107.47	2.16	$0.58	12.20	10.23