Investing in Dividend Aristocrats (Part 1)

The S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats Index is a very prestigious and popular index among dividend investors. The Index measures the performance of blue-chip S&P 500 companies that have increased their dividends for at least 25 consecutive years. The large-cap companies in this index must also have an average daily trading volume of at least $5 Million for the six months prior to the index reference date. In a previous article, we have already indicated that the Dividend Aristocrats Index beat the S&P 500 index over the past 1, 3, 5 and 7 years. Since the beginning of 2011, the companies in the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats Index returned 9.44 % vs. 7.60% gain for the SPY. Average dividend pay-out ratio of all 42 stocks in the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats Index is 42%, while the average dividend yield of all 42 stocks is 2.58%. (The market data are sourced from... Read more