103 Dividend Champions For March 2012

The Dividend Champions spreadsheet and PDF have been updated through 2/29/12. Note that all references to Champions mean companies that have paid higher dividends for at least 25 straight years; Contenders have streaks of 10-24 years; Challengers have streaks of 5-9 years. "CCC" refers to the universe of Champions, Contenders, and Challengers. Expanding Universe This month brought continued growth in the CCC "universe," as you can see in the Summary below. Maybe the only trend stronger than the addition of new Challengers was the graduation of companies to Contender status and I expect that pattern to continue, since there are currently over 40 companies that have increased their dividends for 9 straight years. Although a handful of CCC companies have agreed to be acquired and some others could see their streaks end, we should still see the ranks of Champions, Contenders, and Challengers grow throughout the year. A small group... Read more