Hedge Funds' Favorite S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats

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 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 7.05% vs. 6.59% gain for the SPY. Average dividend yield of all stocks in the S&P 500 is 1.81%, while the average dividend yield of all 42 stocks is 2.82%. As we are concerned about Fed’s loose monetary policy, we believe investors should... Read more