The S&P; Europe 350 Dividend Aristocrats Index (in Euros) is up 17.88% so far this year. Compared to this, the US S&P; 500 Dividend Aristocrats is up just 4.19%. The S&P; High Yield Dividend Aristocrats is actually down 1.27%.

European dividend stocks usually have higher yields than US. In Europe, most companies prefer to payout their earnings than to plough it back into the company coffers for growth. In addition, most of these companies are conservatively run and have huge investor base who depend on dividends for their additional income. Smart US investors have traditionally invested in stocks on the other side of the pond for better dividends.

As the above update on the S&P; Europe 350 Dividend Aristocrats Index shows, when markets stabilize dividend stocks rise nicely when compared to non-dividend paying stocks. In this case, the index has 40 components including world-class companies like Nestle, Barclays, Novo Nordisk etc. These companies pay consistent, high dividends – maybe not the financials. The S&P; 500 Dividend Aristocrats has performed worse than the European peer index with a growth of less than 5%. This is because despite being the US Dividend Aristocrats, most US companies have a lower dividend yield.

The following are the 40 components of the the S&P; Europe 350 Dividend Aristocrats Index:
Abertis Infraestructuras, S.A.
Atlas Copco AB – A Shares
Barclays
British American Tobacco
British Land Company plc
Capita Group
Centrica
Cobham
CRH PLC
Daily Mail & General Trust ‘A’
Enterprise Inns PLC
Essilor International SA
FirstGroup
Gas Natural SDG, S.A.
Hammerson
Hermes International
Iberdrola S.A.
KBC Group NV
Legal & General Group
Man Group PLC
Misys
National Grid PLC
Nestle SA
Next plc
Novartis AG
Novo Nordisk A/S – B Shares
Orkla ASA
Pearson
Publicis Groupe
Rexam PLC
Roche Holding AG
Royal Dutch Shell – B shares
Sanofi–Aventis
Scottish & Southern Energy
Svenska Handelsbanken AB – A Shares
Tesco
UCB SA
Union Fenosa, S.A.
Vodafone Group PLC
WPP Plc

For US investors, only a few of the above stocks are available as ADRs. And some of them trade on the thinly traded OTC markets. Some of the above stocks that are avaialble in the US are listed below together with their ticker and current yield:

Nestle SA Spons Reg (NSRGY)
Current Yield: 3.28%

British Land Company plc(BTCLY)
Current Yield: 9.10%

Iberdrola S.A. (IBDRY)
Current Yield: 5.46%

National Grid PLC(NGG)
Current Yield: 7.17%

Novartis AG(NVS)
Current Yield: 4.28%

Barclays has suspended dividend payments since it received heavy infusions from the British government last year. Also today there is news that a large Gulf investor plans to offload shares in Barclays. Other great companies in the list are Sanofi–Aventis, Tesco(TSCDY) – the top British supermaket chain, Vodafon, etc. While the European dividend players offer high yields, it is important to select high quality companies as recently som banks have disapeared altogether or slashed dividends drastically.