Hormel Foods best performing Dividend Aristocrat in 2015
In August only Hormel Foods and Sysco managed to close higher.
August was a bad month for almost all Dividend Aristocrats. Currently there are 52 Dividend Aristocrats, S&P500 companies that have raised their dividends for at least 25 consecutive years.
Star performer in 2015 is Hormel Foods with a 17.3% gain, followed by Chubb (+16.8%), CR Bard (+16.3%), Walgreens Boots Alliance (+13.6%) and Brown-Forman (+11.7%).
The biggest loser amongst the Dividend Aristocrats in 2015 is Chevron (-27.8%), followed by Franklin Resources, Wal-Mart Stores, Emerson Electric and Procter&Gamble, all losing at least 20% YTD.
Outperformer in August was Sysco (+9.8%), following shareholder activism and analyst upgrades. Biggest loser last month was PPG Industries with a loss of 12.1%.
The average dividend yield for the 52 Dividend Aristocrats currently is 2.6%. Real Estate Investment Trust HCP has the highest dividend yield with 6.1%. The lowest yield is for CR Bard with just 0.5%.
The biggest dividend increase in 2015 came from health care company Medtronic. Medtronic hiked its dividend by 24.6% bringing it's dividend trackrecord to 38 years.
With a dividend increase of 2.1% Wal-Mart raised it's dividend by the smallest percentage in 2015. At least ten Dividend Aristocrats didn't hike their dividend so far this year, including Chevron, that skipped its annual dividend hike in the second quarter.
