Dividend Champions For April 2018

The Dividend Champions spreadsheet and PDF have been updated through 3/29/18 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; and Challengers have streaks of 5-9 years. "CCC" refers to the universe of Champions, Contenders, and Challengers.
Catching a Breath Now that March has ended and the busiest time of year for dividend increases is in the rear-view mirror, we should see a slowdown in announcements as the annual shareholder meetings begin. We may continue to see some "early" increases from companies that had raised their payouts just 3-6 months ago, but it won't be long before the Summer "lull" in activity sets in. What's impressive is the degree to which the latest increases are surpassing the usual levels, as you can see in the Quick Summary below. Note the average Most Recent Increase percentage.
After the CCC universe moved up to 870 in February, it expanded to 874 companies in March, which featured 7 new Challengers, 3 deletions, and no promotions. The Near Challengers listing picked up 7 "NEW" notations (in Appendix B on the Notes tab), but the number of Near-Challengers rose from 91 to 94, still well below the record of 281 companies in September 2014. After February's action saw the average price of CCC stocks fall by $3.83, that figure fell by 17¢ in March, while the average... Read more