Grower, not income today. Screens for companies with 10 or more consecutive years of dividend increases and excludes the top 25% highest yielders, so the 1.50% yield is low by design. Annual distributions rose from $2.97 per share in 2022 to $3.56 in 2025 — the growth line is the product, and current income is the trade-off.
Key risk: Low starting yield leaves the case dependent on time: if the payer base slows or freezes its raises in a downturn, the 1.50% yield does not carry the position on current income while the growth is stalled.
Changes if: Annual distributions stop rising for a full year, or the yield climbs because the price falls on payer cuts rather than because distributions grew — the verdict rests on the growth line, not the starting yield.
- ✓Coverage check: Diversified across hundreds of payers that had to raise their dividends for at least 10 consecutive years to get in; no single holding can break the distribution.
- !Yield check: 1.50% trailing is low current income by design — the index excludes the top 25% highest yielders, so the yield is not the product.
- ✓Dividend growth check: Annual per-share distributions rose each year — $2.97 in 2022, $3.21 in 2023, $3.38 in 2024 and $3.56 in 2025.
What this grade doesn't say: It screens the dividend only — covered, real, compounding. It says nothing about valuation or price: a well-covered payer can still be overpriced, and its price can still fall.