Dividend Aristocrat Performance: July 2020

Seeking AlphaDividend IdeasDividend Aristocrat Performance: July 2020Aug. 3, 2020 10:20 AM ET|| About: ProShares S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats ETF (NOBL), Includes: AMZN, CARR, CVX, ESS, FRT, OTIS, PNR, ROP, SPY, SWK, XOMby: PloutosPloutos Value, momentum, portfolio strategy, CFASummaryComponents of the S&P 500 that have paid steadily increasing dividends for at least 25 years have outperformed the broader market over time.
This article demonstrates that historic outperformance and lists the current Dividend Aristocrat constituents and their recent returns.
While the Dividend Aristocrats have outperformed in the last six down years for the market, the strategy lagged in July and through the first seven months of 2020 in total.
In July, the Dividend Aristocrats posted a +5.13% total return versus a 5.64% total return for the broad index.
By showing the recent performance of the Dividend Aristocrats, some active dividend growth investors may be able to suss out relative bargains.
In July, the Dividend Aristocrat Index (NOBL) rallied 5.13%, lagging the S&P 500 (SPY), which returned +5.64%. In a strong absolute month for the strategy, the Dividend Aristocrats lagged on a relative basis as the tech leaders pushed the capitalization-weighted index to outperformance. On the month, the dividend growth strategy lagged by 51bp; 28bp of this underperformance is attributable to the tech sector underweight and an additional 25bp is attributable solely to the exclusion of Amazon (AMZN), which rallied 14.7% in July. On the year, the Dividend Aristocrats are still down roughly 5% with the S&P 500 returning roughly +2.4% with most of the performance differential a function of the tech underweight and Amazon exclusion.
Historically, the Dividend Aristocrats have been a defensive strategy, outperforming in at least the last six down years for the market. This outperformance in down years has contributed to the strategy's nearly 2% higher annualized... Read more