Out of the 500 companies in Standard & Poor’s flagship U.S. stock market index, 30 companies have cut their dividends so far this year.
Another 11 have completely suspended payments (or the companies themselves have ceased to exist).
Total damage to investors: $31.74 billion in missed dividends. As you’d guess, most of the pain has come from financial stocks, which accounted for 35 of the negative dividend actions and $30.6 billion of the lost dividends.
And if we look at all U.S. common stocks listed on major exchanges, the numbers are terrible. September marked the worst year for dividends as far back as we have records (1956). October looks like it will be equally bad.
So far this month, there have been 50 negative dividend actions compared to just seven during the same month last year.
But is it all doom and gloom? No way! Many companies are bucking the trend, and raising their dividends through thick and thin. There have been a full 216 dividend increases from companies in the S&P 500 so far this year.
For 32 companies in the index, 2008 marked at least the 25th straight year of higher and higher dividends. And perhaps the most concrete example that dividend hikes are still happening is the fact that THREE companies in the Dividend Superstars portfolio announced increases just last month!
The message is clear: Many businesses are still doing just fine. Their profits are holding up well. Their commitment to shareholders is unchanged.
To learn more about five investing in divideds and other dividend opportunities, read this amazing article. To your dividend investing success,
InvestingInDividends.com
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