Dividend Champions For March 2014

The Dividend Champions spreadsheet and PDF have been updated through 2/28/14. 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. CCC Listings Top 500 Companies The pace of dividend-increase announcements picked up again in February, resulting in the number of Dividend Champions, Contenders, and Challengers surpassing the 500 mark even sooner than expected. Previous projections suggested that the listings would end February at 501 or 502 companies, but a spate of "early" announcements pushed the roster to 509 companies as the month ended. (I typically project that companies with Ex-Dividend Dates in the first week of the month will be announced before the end of the previous month. But companies often announce the next dividend from... Read more