In the first quarter of 2024, U.S. dividend payments reached an all-time record of $164.3 billion, 7% higher than the same quarter of last year. The recent trend for the largest American companies (the blue chips) has been to take their large positive cash flows and give some of it back to investors. Meta, Instagram, Google, and T-Mobile are among some of the newest cash cow companies to begin paying dividends in the recent months, as well as Disney restarting their biannual dividend. Amber Milam of Janus Henderson said “Dividend growth in the U.S. remains remarkably resilient as companies seek to find a balance between capital expenditures, financing needs, and shareholder returns via dividends and buybacks in this higher interest rate environment,” The payout from this quarter was also higher because Costco paid an additional $15 a share as a one time thing, this totaled about $6.7 billion. Global dividends payouts also reached an all-time high of $339.2 billion in 2024’s first quarter.
Janus Henderson expects dividend payouts to continue to grow over the next year, Paul R. La Monica of Barron’s wrote, “Janus Henderson noted that thanks to rising corporate profits, nearly all dividend-paying U.S. companies either raised or maintained their shareholder payouts over the past year. The one notable exception was struggling pharmacy chain Walgreens Boots Alliance. (Walgreens was replaced in the Dow this year by Amazon.com, which doesn’t pay a dividend.)”
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