Equity
Dividend Growth
Philosophy
- The Dividend Growth strategy is based on the belief that companies with an attractive dividend yield, enhanced growth in dividends and consistent earnings results provide capital protection and competitive long-term total return.
- We believe that increasingly, investors perceive risk as loss of capital, and high quality, dividend paying companies possess favorable risk characteristics relative to the S&P 500® Index.
- Further, we believe that focusing on companies that are growing faster than their peer group versus focusing only on yield or very small increases in the dividend leads to lower volatility and more consistency.

Portfolio Managers
Investment Approach
- A fundamental approach that incorporates both a valuation and a relative strength discipline.
- Dividend growth stocks comprise 80 to 100% of the portfolio. The portfolio has the flexibility to hold up to 20% total in stocks possessing "Attractively Valued" and/or "High Growth” attributes. By having exposure to these areas, the portfolio has the ability to outperform in multiple market environments while maintaining strong down-market capture.
- Our investment process is dedicated to seeking companies that possess a combination of three essential criteria: growth of dividends, consistency of earnings and enhanced profitability.
- We are looking for companies that display characteristics that reflect strong quality, or are moving quickly higher on the quality scale, and that are likely to improve more than the market expects over our investible time horizon