Dividend Challengers (And Near-Challengers): 58 Increases Expected By The End Of January

In compiling the Dividend Champions list, I get to see which companies are nearing the anniversaries of their previous dividend increases. Since most of these firms raise their payout about the same time every year, I can say with some confidence that they are likely to do so again. I have separated the Champions (25 or more years of higher dividends), Contenders (10-24 years), and Challengers (5-9 years) into distinct groupings, so please look for the other articles, which I hope will be published about the same time. Note that "CCC" refers to the combination of Champions, Contenders, and Challengers.
Dividend Growth Activity Moderates The pace of dividend-increase announcements surged during the past month, as expected, but should ease slightly during the holidays, before picking up again next month. The number of announcements for all Champions, Contenders, Challengers, and Near-Challengers expected in the next 11 weeks settled back down to 94 from 146 last month, which was up from 94 in my mid-September articles. (Those numbers are still below the 186 during the busiest season, around Groundhog Day 2017.) As mentioned previously, 2018 should be a banner year for new Champions, as there are 15 companies with current streaks of 24 years, while the Contenders will be replenished by an equal number of companies adding to their current 9-year streaks.
The table below coincides with the usual "forward look" of about 11 weeks for this article. Based on last... Read more