NEW YORK, June 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- S&P Dow Jones Indices ("S&P DJI"), the world's leading index provider, announced today the launch of the S&P Dividend Growers Index Series, which includes the S&P U.S. Dividend Growers Index and the S&P Global Ex-U.S. Dividend Growers Index, adding to its family of widely-tracked dividend-based benchmarks.

These two indices have been selected by and licensed to Vanguard to serve as target benchmarks for two of the asset manager's dividend-focused index funds. The U.S. index will also be used as a performance benchmark for one of the asset manager's actively managed mutual funds.

"S&P Dow Jones Indices has been a pioneer in developing innovative, independent and transparent indices that measure and capture important potential signals of companies' well-being through long-term and consistent dividend payments," said Dan Draper, Chief Executive Officer at S&P Dow Jones Indices.

"We're very pleased that Vanguard has selected our indices to serve as target benchmarks for two of their popular dividend-themed index funds and the performance benchmark for an actively managed mutual fund. S&P DJI is pleased to license our indices to clients such as Vanguard so that they in turn can offer accessible and cost-efficient products to help end investors save for retirement and meet their investment goals," Mr. Draper added.

The S&P Dividend Growers Index Series is anchored on rules-based and publicly available methodologies. The S&P U.S. Dividend Growers Index and the S&P Global Ex-U.S. Dividend Growers Index respectively utilize the S&P United States BMI and the S&P Global Ex-U.S. BMI as the starting universe for stock selection.

The two indices measure the performance of companies that have followed a policy of consistently increasing dividends every year for a specified number of years. The indices are subject to an indicated annual dividend yield exclusion, omitting the top 25% highest ranked eligible companies from the index universe.  To reduce excessive turnover, existing constituents are removed from the index if they are in the top 15% by dividend yield.  

Constituents are float-adjusted market capitalization (FMC) weighted, subject to a single constituent weight cap of 4%. The index series attempts to ensure high capacity and tradability by rebalancing over a period of three days compared to the standard single day rebalance in most equity indices.

For more information about the S&P Dividend Growers Index Series methodologies and S&P Dow Jones Indices, please visit https://www.spglobal.com/spdji/en/.

ABOUT S&P DOW JONES INDICES

S&P Dow Jones Indices is the largest global resource for essential index-based concepts, data and research, and home to iconic financial market indicators, such as the S&P 500^® and the Dow Jones Industrial Average^®. More assets are invested in products based on our indices than products based on indices from any other provider in the world. Since Charles Dow invented the first index in 1884, S&P DJI has been innovating and developing indices across the spectrum of asset classes helping to define the way investors measure and trade the markets.

S&P Dow Jones Indices is a division of S&P Global (NYSE: SPGI), which provides essential intelligence for individuals, companies, and governments to make decisions with confidence. For more information, visit https://www.spglobal.com/spdji/en/.

The S&P U.S. Dividend Growers Index and the S&P Global Ex-U.S. Dividend Growers Index are products of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC ("S&P DJI"), a division of S&P Global ("S&P"), or its affiliates, and have been licensed for use by Vanguard. S&P® is a registered trademark of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC, a division of S&P; Dow Jones® is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC ("Dow Jones"); and these trademarks have been licensed for use by S&P DJI and sublicensed for certain purposes by Vanguard. Vanguard Dividend Appreciation Index Fund and ETF and Vanguard International Dividend Appreciation Index Fund and ETF are not sponsored, endorsed, sold, or promoted by S&P DJI, Dow Jones, S&P, or their respective affiliates, and none of such parties make any representation regarding the advisability of investing in such product(s), nor do they have any liability for any errors, omissions, or interruptions of the S&P U.S. Dividend Growers Index and the S&P Global Ex-U.S. Dividend Growers Index.

SOURCE S&P Dow Jones Indices