106 Dividend Champions For December

The Dividend Champions spreadsheet and PDF have been updated through 11/30/12 and are available at http://dripinvesting.org/Tools/Tools.asp 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. New Champions, Contenders, and Challengers November featured some "graduations" along with the deletions of companies whose streaks had lapsed. The latest Champion is Atmos Energy (ATO), which raised its dividend for the 25th straight year. Topping that accomplishment was Lancaster Colony (LANC), which became the 15th member of the 50-year club, which includes the likes of Coca-Cola (KO) and Johnson & Johnson(JNJ), both of which joined that exclusive group earlier this year. A handful of companies (listed below) graduated from Challenger to Contender status, and, as... Read more