“The success of the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index in the United States and the recently launched pan-European Dow Jones STOXX Select Dividend Indexes reflects the increased popularity and growing demand of investors for innovative dividend-investing techniques as an investment style,” said Lars Hamich, managing director of STOXX Ltd., the joint venture that is responsible for Dow Jones Indexes’ business development in Asia, Europe and the Middle East. “Now, for the first time, Europe-based investors can access the returns of the highest-yielding U.S. companies in addition to those based in Europe and the Eurozone.”
In April of this year, STOXX Ltd.—a joint venture of Deutsche Boerse AG, Dow Jones & Company, and the SWX Group—launched the first pan-European select dividend indexes. Shortly thereafter, both the Dow Jones STOXX Select Dividend 30 Index and the Dow Jones EURO STOXX Select Dividend 30 Index were licensed as the basis for ETFs to European ETF providers, with Indexchange being the first ETF provider who launched their ETF products.
The inclusion of the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index to Indexchange’s family of dividend-focused products gives investors a wider variety of markets from which to pick and choose for their portfolios.
The Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index was launched in November 2003 in response to increased interest of investors in U.S. companies issuing dividends because of the introduction of lower U.S. tax rates.
To be included in the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index, a company must have a positive, historical five-year dividend-per-share growth rate, a five-year average dividend to earnings-per-share ratio of less than or equal to 60%, and a three-month average daily trading volume of 200,000 shares. Stocks that meet these criteria are then ranked by dividend yield and the top 100 are selected as components of the index.
The index is reviewed annually in December. History is available back to Dec. 31, 1991. The components, weightings and daily closing values of the Dow Jones Select Dividend Index are available on www.djindexes.com.