Dividend Challengers (And Near-Challengers): 69 Increases Expected By February 28

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 Accelerates Except for a holiday lull, the pace of dividend-increase announcements should continue to surge as the fourth quarter of 2017 gives way to the first quarter of 2018, those being the busiest quarters for such activity. The number of announcements for all Champions, Contenders, Challengers, and Near-Challengers expected in the next 11 weeks rises to 109 now, from 94 last month, which was down from 146 in my mid-October articles. (Those numbers are still below the 186 during the busiest season, around Groundhog Day 2017, so we should see another surge next month.) As mentioned previously, 2018 should be a banner year for new Champions, as there are more than a dozen companies with current streaks of 24 years, while the Contenders will be replenished by a similar number of companies adding to their current 9-year streaks.
The table... Read more