Sunday, November 12, 2006

S&P's Dividend Aristocrats: Part I

Standard and Poor's maintains a list of stocks that have exhibited long term dividend growth qualities. The "Dividend Aristocrats" consist "of large cap, blue chip companies within the S&P 500 that have followed a policy of consistently increasing dividends every year for at least 25 consecutive years. The index portfolio has both capital growth and dividend income characteristics, as opposed to portfolios that are pure yield or pure capital appreciation oriented."

Although some of these companies have consistent long term positive dividend characteristics, a few companies may be in industries that are facing unique challenges at this time. For example, the newspaper industry, and companies like Gannett (ticker GCI), is being challenged by the consumer's move to the internet for a great deal of their news. Below is a list of the current dividend aristocrats.

(click tables for larger image)


1 comment :

Anonymous said...

What's particularly interesting is the number of stocks that have dropped off the list over the years.

Excluding mergers, the dominant reason seems to be a large acquisition that is heavily debt funded.

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