Dividend Champions For November 2016

The Dividend Champions spreadsheet and PDF have been updated through 10/31/16 and are available here. 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.
The Big Freeze Continues
As I reported last month, the annual phenomenon of dividend "Freezes" has taken center stage, as companies that will have paid the same in total dividends in 2016 as in 2015 are being deleted. As you can see in the Quick Summary below, the Freezes that got under way with 18 in September continued with 16 more in October, as a considerable number of companies chose not to increase their payouts this year. With two months to go, another 17 companies remain on the list of potential Freezes, but some companies do save (and extend) their streaks with "last minute" increases, as did Champions Chevron (NYSE: CVX) and Eagle Financial Services (OTCQX:EFSI) in October. In addition to the latest Freezes, there were several cuts - mostly from among the MLPs (Master Limited Partnerships) and other oil-related stocks - and some acquisitions.
After the CCC universe shrunk to 778 companies in September, it contracted further to 771 on October 31, with the latest month accounting for 14 new Challengers, 21 deletions and 3 promotions. The Near Challengers listing picked up 9... Read more