The S&P 500 Buyback index -- which tracks 100 companies with the highest buyback ratio -- has more than doubled returns of the S&P 500 Dividends Aristocrats index so far in 2014. The Dividends Aristocrats index ranks stocks based on consistency of increasing dividends over a 25-year period.
As of Aug. 7, the buyback index has returned 5.8%, compared to 2.6% for the aristocrats index.
Dividend stocks were hit particularly hard by the July correction -- blue chips like Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Kimberly-Clark and Colgate-Palmolive all dropped more than 6% during the month. The buyback index slipped 0.04% in the month vs. a fall of 2.7% for the dividend index.
Five stocks -- Pentair, Illinois Tool Works, 3M, Lowe's Cos and CR Bard – are included in both indexes.
