NEW YORK, Feb. 5, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- S&P Dow Jones Indices ("S&P DJI"), one of the world's leading providers of financial market indices, announced today the launch of the S&P MidCap 400^® Dividend Aristocrats^® index, which is designed to measure the performance of companies within the S&P MidCap 400^® that have followed a managed dividends policy of consistently increasing dividends every year for at least 15 years.  The index has been licensed to ProShare Advisors LLC for ETF development.

"The mid-cap universe is an overlooked segment of the market in an investor's hunt for income-producing asset classes," says Vinit Srivastava, Senior Director at S&P Dow Jones Indices. "Market participants have regarded sustained dividend growth especially over long periods, as embodied in our widely followed Dividend Aristocrats family, as an important measure for quality, income-generating companies. We are excited about expanding the Dividend Aristocrats family of indices to the U.S. mid-cap space and the continued expansion of our comprehensive suite of factor based indices."

"We are pleased to offer investors a dividend growth strategy for mid-cap stocks," says Michael L. Sapir, co-founder and CEO of ProShare Advisors LLC. "We have seen considerable interest in our dividend growers ETF based on the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats index, and are glad to broaden the range of options available."

The S&P MidCap 400 Dividend Aristocrats index portfolio has both capital growth and dividend income characteristics, as opposed to portfolios that are pure yield or pure capital appreciation oriented. By equally weighting the index constituents, the S&P MidCap 400 Dividend Aristocrats represents the performance of this group of stocks by treating each constituent as a distinct investment opportunity without regard to size.

About S&P Dow Jones Indices
S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC, a part of McGraw Hill Financial, is the world's largest, global resource for index-based concepts, data and research. Home to iconic financial market indicators, such as the S&P 500® and the Dow Jones Industrial Average®, S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC has over 115 years of experience constructing innovative and transparent solutions that fulfill the needs of investors. More assets are invested in products based upon our indices than any other provider in the world. With over 1,000,000 indices covering a wide range of asset classes across the globe, S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC defines the way investors measure and trade the markets. To learn more about our company, please visit www.spdji.com.

S&P® is a registered trademark of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC ("S&P"), a part of McGraw Hill Financial. Dow Jones® is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC ("Dow Jones"). These trademarks have been licensed to S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC. It is not possible to invest directly in an index. S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC, Dow Jones, S&P and their respective affiliates (collectively "S&P Dow Jones Indices") do not sponsor, endorse, sell, or promote any investment fund or other investment vehicle that is offered by third parties and that seeks to provide an investment return based on the performance of any index. This document does not constitute an offer of services in jurisdictions where S&P Dow Jones Indices does not have the necessary licenses. S&P Dow Jones Indices receives compensation in connection with licensing its indices to third parties.

SOURCE S&P Dow Jones Indices