Mergent's Dividend Achievers Pay Increasing Dividends

If you are looking for companies with solid long-term financial performance and reliable increasing dividends, check out the Mergent's Dividend Achievers. Dividend Achievers are comprised of over 300 well-known stocks that are appropriate for a dividend-reinvestment portfolio.

A United States Dividend Achiever, as defined by Mergents, must:

Be incorporated in the United States.
Trade on the NYSE, NASDAQ or AMEX.
Have increased its annual regular dividend payments for the last ten or more consecutive years.
Meet trading volume minimums.

A non-United States Dividend Achiever is a non-United States company that trades on the NYSE, NASDAQ or AMEX. A company must have increased its annual regular dividend payments for the last five or more consecutive years and meet trading volume minimums.

Mergents offers 11 Dividend Achievers indices: six indices for U.S. stocks, one for international stocks, three for Canadian stocks and one index for U.S. and Canadian stocks. Note: Several of the indices can be followed on the AMEX. At the AMEX Web site, enter the index symbol in the search box.

Mergent's Dividend Achievers Indices
Index	AMEX Symbol	# Stocks	Comments
Broad Dividend Achievers™	DAA	324	All Dividend Achievers.
Dividend Achievers™ Select Index	DVG	220	Subset of the Broad Dividend Achievers™ Index with added criteria such as liquidity.
Dividend Achievers50™ Index	DAY	50	Subset of the Broad Dividend Achievers™ Index, including the top 50 highest yielding dividend paying companies.
High Growth Rate Dividend Achievers™ Index	DAH	100	Subset of the Broad Dividend Achievers™ Index, including the top 100 Dividend Achievers companies by their ten-year compound annualized dividend growth rate.
NASDAQ Dividend Achievers™ Index	DVQT and DIVQ	96	Subset of the Broad Dividend Achievers™ Index traded on the NASDAQ.
KLD Dividend Achievers Social Index	-	173	Subset of Broad Dividend Achievers™ Index with added environmental, social, and governance requirements.
International Dividend Achievers™ Index	DAT	70	American Depositary Receipts and foreign common stock traded on the NYSE, NASDAQ or AMEX. Company has increased its annual regular dividend payments for the last five or more consecutive years. Average daily cash volume exceed $500,000 per day in November and December.
Canadian Dividend Achievers™ Index	-	46	Canada company traded on a major Canadian exchange, Has increased its annual regular dividend payments for the last five or more consecutive years. Additional screening criteria such as liquidity.
Canadian Dividend Achievers™ Select Index	-	37	Subset of Canadian Dividend Achievers™ Index. Criteria not stated by Mergents.
Mergent’s Canadian Dividend & Income Trust Achievers Index	ACD	43	Canadian companies, Royalty Income Trusts, and Real Estate Investment Trusts with five or more years of consecutive regular annual dividend increases.
Mergent’s North American Dividend Achievers50™ Index	-	50	35 US Dividend Achievers and 15 Canadian Dividend Achievers with the highest current yield as of the last trading date in December.
Note:This table was based on information from the Mergent's Dividend Achievers Web site as of October 23, 2997.

You can own Dividend Achievers through closed-end funds, an index fund and exchange-traded funds funds that tract selected Dividend Achievers indices:

Funds That Tract Mergent's Dividend Achievers Indices
Fund & Web Site	Fund Symbol	Fund Type	Fund Includes...
BlackRock Dividend Achievers™ Trust	BDV	Closed-end fund	Top 100 Dividend Achievers by yield.
BlackRock Strategic Dividend Achievers™ Trust	BDT	Closed-end fund	Small and mid-cap Dividend Achievers.
BlackRock Enhanced Dividend Achievers™ Trust	BDJ	Closed-end fund	Top 100 Dividend Achievers by yield. Writes covered calls and puts.
PowerShares Dividend Achievers™ Portfolio	PFM	Exchange-traded fund	All Dividend Achievers.
PowerShares High Growth Rate Dividend Achievers™ Portfolio	PHJ	Exchange-traded fund	Top 100 Dividend Achievers by dividend growth rate.
PowerShares High Yield Equity Dividend Achievers™ Portfolio	PEY	Exchange-traded fund	Fifty highest yielding Dividend Achievers.
PowerShares International Dividend Achievers™ Portfolio	PID	Exchange-traded fund	International Dividend Achievers.
Vanguard Dividend Appreciation Index Fund Investor Shares	VDAIX	Index Fund	Dividend Achievers in Select Index.
Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF	VIG	Exchange-traded fund	Dividend Achievers in Select Index.
Claymore CDN Dividend & Income Achievers ETF	CDZ	Exchange-traded fund	Dividend Achievers in Canadian Dividend & Income Achievers Index.
Note: For a complete list of funds that tract the Dividend Achievers indices, click on the Licensed Products tab on any page of the Mergents's Dividend Achievers Web site.

Related Articles:

Closed-End Funds
Dividend Aristocrats
Dividends Magnify Your Total Return
Dow Jones Select Dividend Index Fund
Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs)
Index Funds
Portfolio of Dividend Achievers ETFs Offers Growth and Income
Small Dividend Increases Add Up

Updated October 24, 2007.