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Standard & Poor's, the world's leading index provider, announced today the launch of the S&P/TSX Canadian Dividend Aristocrats Index which is designed to measure the performance of those Canadian companies that have consistently increased dividends annually for at least seven years.
"Dividends have contributed nearly a third of the market's total equity return of the S&P/TSX Composite since 1956, while capital appreciation has contributed two thirds," said Jasmit Bhandal, director of business development at Standard & Poor's Canadian Index Services. "Stable and increasing dividends are traditionally used by corporate managers to signal their confidence in their company's prospects. Investors consider long dividend track records a sign of corporate maturity, growth, and strength."
The S&P/TSX Canadian Dividend Aristocrats is designed for investors looking for yield. Constituents have more sustainable payout ratios and have shown better return on equity, and higher earnings and dividend growth than the Canadian market overall. It also has consistently delivered yields in the 3.1% to 4.2% range over the past five years.
The S&P/TSX Canadian Dividend Aristocrats Index is weighted by indicated yield. It incorporates concentration limits to prevent any stock from being more than 8% of the Index weight at each quarterly rebalancing. The index constituents are re-weighted every quarter, and the Dividend Aristocrats universe reviewed every December.
A research paper detailing the methodology, historical returns, and constituents of the S&P/TSX Canadian Dividend Aristocrats Index is available at www.standardandpoors.com/indices under Alternative Indices.
About Standard & Poor's Dividend Aristocrats Indices
The S&P/TSX Canadian Dividend Aristocrats Index is the latest addition to
the S&P Dividend Aristocrats index series. The other indices in this series
include the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats, the S&P Europe 350 Dividend
Aristocrats, and the S&P High Yield Dividend Aristocrats.
About Standard & Poor's
Standard & Poor's, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE:MHP), is
the world's foremost provider of financial market intelligence, including
independent credit ratings, indices, risk evaluation, investment research and
data. With approximately 8,500 employees, including wholly owned affiliates,
located in 21 countries. Standard & Poor's is an essential part of the world's
financial infrastructure and has played a leading role for more than 140 years
in providing investors with the independent benchmarks they need to feel more
confident about their investment and financial decisions. For more
information, visit www.standardandpoors.com.
