AT&T’s days as a top stock for S&P 500 dividend investors are gone. But luckily, lovers of rising and high dividends have a new king.
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Effective on Feb. 1, communications firm AT&T (T) is kicked out of the exclusive and lucrative S&P Dividend Aristocrat index. It’s a collection of the S&P 500 companies that have boosted their dividends for 25 straight years. It’s a selective club: Just 64 companies in the S&P 500 make the cut. Additionally, AT&T is halving its dividend.
AT&T leaves a big hole in the Dividend Aristocrats. With former dividend of 7.9% coming into Tuesday, it was highest yielding member of the index. But it’s also making room for a new dividend king: technology incumbent International Business Machines (IBM). Following the dethroning of AT&T, IBM will take the mantle as the highest yielding Aristocrat at 4.9%.
And the change comes as dividends are all the more…
