Dividend Champions For February 2014

The Dividend Champions spreadsheet and PDF have been updated through 1/31/14. Note that all references to Champions mean companies that have paid higher dividends for at least 25 straight years; Contenders have streaks of 10-24 years; Challengers have streaks of 5-9 years. "CCC" refers to the universe of Champions, Contenders, and Challengers.

History in the Making

After a slow start, the pace of dividend-increase announcements picked up as January progressed, leading to net gain of a dozen companies to the CCC universe. The new Challengers boosted the number of companies to 488 and that number should grow to over 500 in short order. Even more remarkable is the growth in new "Near-Challengers," thanks to a new wave of firms headed toward declaring a fifth year of increases in early 2015. In Appendix B (on the Notes tab), you'll see 35 "NEW" notations, bringing the number of Near-Challengers to 201 companies, suggesting that the CCC universe could expand not to 600, as I've recently noted, but 700 by the Spring of 2015! Of course, that progress could be derailed by a major recession or an asteroid striking Earth, as Dividend Growth critics would be ready to point out.

January featured a sell-off of about 3% for the overall market, the worst January since 2010, but lower prices mean increased valuations, as can be seen in the table below. The average price of CCC stocks, which rose by 71¢ in December, fell by almost $2 in January, pushing the average yield up to 2.84%, from 2.73%. The average of the Most Recent Increases edged up, from 9.49% to 9.52%, exactly reversing the December change. No doubt the influx of new companies in the months ahead will have an effect on these averages. As always, please use the CCC only as a starting point for more in-depth research. Feel free to leave any suggestions in the Comment area below.

Quick Summary

The Summary tab includes a table comparing the composite numbers from the latest update to those from the previous month and the end of the previous year. Below that is a summary of the latest month's activity, in terms of companies added, deleted, or promoted. That is reflected below:

Quick Summary:
1/31/14	Champions	Contenders	Challengers	Total
No. of Companies	105	213	170	488
Ave. No. of Years	39.9	14.6	7.0	17.4
Average Price	61.16	62.38	57.77	60.51
Average % Yield	2.60	2.70	3.15	2.84
Ave. MR % Increase	8.70	8.43	11.53	9.52
12/31/13	Champions	Contenders	Challengers	Total
No. of Companies	105	210	161	476
Ave. No. of Years	39.8	14.5	7.1	17.6
Average Price	64.42	65.14	57.74	62.48
Average % Yield	2.49	2.60	3.06	2.73
Ave. MR % Increase	8.68	8.78	11.10	9.49
12/31/12	Champions	Contenders	Challengers	Total
No. of Companies	105	183	170	458
Ave. No. of Years	39.0	14.3	7.2	17.3
Average Price	53.48	50.89	45.25	49.39
Average % Yield	2.93	3.02	3.62	3.22
Ave. MR % Increase	7.75	8.58	10.43	9.06
MR = Most Recent
Additions:
Access Midstream Partners LP (ACMP) to Challengers
Applied Industrial Technologies Inc. (AIT) to Challengers
BlackRock Inc. (BLK) to Challengers
Breitburn Energy Partners LP (BBEP) to Challengers
Broadcom Corp. (BRCM) to Challengers
DuPont Favros Technology Inc. (DFT) to Challengers
First Interstate Bancsystem Inc. (FIBK) to Challengers
Cardinal Financial Corp. (CFNL) to Challengers
Global Partners LP (GLP) to Challengers
Mattel Inc. (MAT) to Challengers
Simon Property Group Inc. (SPG) to Challengers
Time Warner Cable Inc. (TWC) to Challengers
Tupperware Brands Corp. (TUP) to Challengers
Deletions:
Stewart Enterprises Inc. (STEI) from Challengers
Promotions:
Holly Energy Partners LP (HEP) from Challenger to Contender
Teekay LHG Partners LP (TGP) from Challenger to Contender
Williams Partners LP (WPZ) from Challenger to Contender

(Table from author; may include underlying data from FinViz.com)

Every Picture Tells a Story

As a bonus, I'm inserting one of Chuck Carnevale's F.A.S.T. Graphs below, highlighting one of the companies listed above. When the price line is in the green area, it suggests possible undervaluation.

Source: Dividend Champions For February 2014

Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article. (More...)

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