Back in January, we took a deep look into three groups of Dividend Aristocrat stocks to show which ones had increased their payouts most significantly over the past five years. Now it is time for a follow-up on other companies that have the potential to earn the Aristocrat distinction. Before doing this new stock screen, we have to define the Aristocrats:
The S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats Index
SP50DIV,
-0.08%
is made up of 65 stocks in the S&P 500
SPX,
+0.67%
of companies that have raised their dividends on common shares for at least 25 consecutive years. That is the only requirement — it makes no difference how high or low the current dividend yield may be. The index is equal-weighted, rebalanced quarterly and reconstituted annually. It is tracked by the ProShares S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats ETF
NOBL,
-0.00.
The ETF’s total return with dividends reinvested for five years through March 3 has been 62%, slightly better than the 61% return for the ProShares S&P 500 Dividend Trust
SPY,
+0.65%
for the same period. But NOBL is less than 10 years old. If we look at 10-year performance for the indexes, the full S&P 500 has beaten …