The ProShares S&P 500 Aristocrats ETF (CBOE: NOBL) tracks the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats Index, a benchmark that only includes companies that have boosted dividends for 25 consecutive years.
That dividend increase streak requirement means some companies may depart the index in a given year while others may qualify for admission.
“Once a company pays a dividend, there’s a strong likelihood it will continue to return cash to shareholders for years to come,” CFRA Research Director of ETF & Mutual Fund Research Todd Rosenbluth said in a note out Tuesday. “However, it is rare for company to raise its dividend for 20 or even 25 consecutive years. When it happens, we think these companies deserve recognition.”
As Rosenbluth notes, some new additions are coming to NOBL’s underlying index.
“S&P Dow Jones indices reviews existing and potential constituents to its Aristocrats indices on an annual basis based on updated dividend history,” he said. “On February 1, four stocks will be added to S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats index and two others will join the S&P High Yield Dividend Aristocrats index that focuses on S&P 1500 securities.”
Related: Newly Crowned Additions to a Popular Dividend Growth ETF
NOBL Details
As of the end of 2018, NOBL held 53 stocks and as of January 28, nearly 45% of the fund’s combined sector allocation was devoted to consumer staples and industrial stocks. The ETF could see its industrials weight increase as two of the new additions to the fund’s underlying index – Dow components Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) and United Technologies Inc. (NYSE: UTX) – hail from that sector.