Changes in the Dividend Aristocrats

The dividend aristocrats list includes companies which have increased dividends for over 25 years in a row. It is equally weighted and re-balanced once an year.

The companies which were added to the index include:

BROWN-FORMAN -CL B (BF.B )

CINTAS CORP (CTAS)

I expected that these two companies could be good additions to the index in The New Dividend Aristocrats.

The companies which were removed from the index include:

Avery Dennison Corp (AVY) (analysis)

BB&T Corp (BBT) (analysis)

Gannett Co (GCI) (analysis)

General Electric (GE) (analysis)

Johnson Controls (JCI) (analysis)

Legg Mason (LM) (analysis)

M & T Bank (MTB) (analysis)

Pfizer (PFE) (analysis)

State Street (STT) (analysis)

Us Bancorp (USB) (analysis)

In 2008 the dividend aristocrats’ index outperformed the S&P 500 by 15.50 percent. The dividend aristocrats lost 21.55% in 2008 versus the 37.00% loss for the S&P 500. So far in 2009 ( as of December 11) the S&P Dividend Aristocrats index is up 27.24%,, which is better than the 25.38% performance of S&P 500.To view the full list of Dividend Aristocrats in 2009, check out Standard and Poors website.

Full Disclosure: Long MTB

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-High-Yield Dividends at Risk

- Why do I like Dividend Aristocrats?

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