U.S. dividend paying firms turned in another “blah” performance during the month of November 2019. The number of dividend rises was down while the number of dividend reductions was up, but only by enough to put their numbers close to the threshold signaling that recessionary conditions are present in the U.S. economy without crossing over it.

The following chart adds November 2019′s data to the end of the series of data on dividend increases and decreases recorded in the U.S. stock market since January 2004:

Let’s run through the U.S. stock market’s dividend metadata for November 2019:

• 3,373 U.S. firms declared dividends in November 2019, an increase of 181 over the 3,192 recorded in October 2019. That figure is also 351 lower than what was recorded a year ago in November 2018.
• A total of 77 U.S. firms announced they would pay a special (or extra) dividend to their shareholders in November 2019, an increase of 36 over the number recorded in October 2019 and 15 lower than what was recorded a year ago in November 2018.
• Meanwhile, 150 U.S. firms announced they would boost cash dividend payments to shareholders in November 2019, a decrease of 2 from the 152 recorded in October 2019, and a decrease of 15 from the 165 dividend rises declared back in November 2018.
• But 24 publicly traded companies cut their dividends in November 2019, an increase of 7 over the number recorded in October 2019 and also an increase of 4 over the 20 recorded in November 2018.
• Finally, 4 U.S. firms omitted paying their dividends in November 2019, an increase of 2 over the number recorded in October 2019. That figure is also an increase of 3 over the total recorded in November 2018.

There’s just one more month left to go for 2019′s dividend data, which we’ll cover in early January 2020!

Until then, if you want to check our dividend statistics data source for yourself, which includes a wealth of other market related data, you’ll find it referenced below….

References

Standard and Poor. S&P Market Attributes Web File. [Excel Spreadsheet]. 29 November 2019. Accessed 2 December 2019.