U.S. companies' dividend growth picks up in Q3, S&P Dow Jones Indices says
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The net increases in dividends on U.S. domestic common stocks exceeded dividend cuts by $8.8 billion in Q3 2023, S&P Dow Jones Indices said on Tuesday.
Indicated dividend net changes (increases less decreases) for U.S. domestic common stocks rose from $4.3 billion increase in the previous quarter, while it fell from $17.7 billion increase a year earlier.
"Dividend payments picked up in the third quarter as increases bounced back from their Q2 decline. However, dividend decreases significantly picked up, which reduced the net gain to shareholders," said Howard Silverblatt, Senior Index Analyst at S&P Dow Jones Indices.
Silverblatt added that the increases were supported by T-Mobile's (TMUS) $3.1 billion dividend initiation, which was only second to Apple's $9.9 billion initiation in March 2012, and Microsoft's $2.1 billion increase - its largest annual increase since it initiated dividends in January 2003.
According to data from S&P Dow Jones Indices, 448 dividend increases were reported during Q3 2023, compared to 592 during a year ago.
Total dividend increases were $18 billion for the period, down from $19.1 billion for Q3 2022.
For all 12-months ending in September 2023, the net dividend rate increased $37.5 billion, compared to the net $71.5 billion ending in September 2022.

The firm said that it expects companies to remain cautious over both consumer and government spending for the next year, resulting in restrained net dividend increases and posting a 3.5%-4.5% increase in actual cash payments for 2024 over 2023.


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