Dividends By The Numbers in August 2019

August 2019 was a mixed month for the U.S. stock market’s dividend payers. Compared to July 2019, there were fewer announced dividend cuts, which is a positive for the market, but also fewer announced dividend rises, which is what makes for a mixed outcome for dividend investors.

Here is August 2019′s dividend metadata for the U.S. stock market:

• A total of 3,540 U.S. firms declared dividends in August 2019, an increase of 417 over the 3,123 recorded in July 2019. That figure is also 12 lower than what was recorded a year ago in August 2018.
• 34 U.S. firms announced they would pay a special (or extra) dividend to their shareholders in August 2019, an increase of 9 over the number recorded in July 2019 and an increase of 3 over the number recorded a year ago in August 2018.
• 125 U.S. firms announced they would boost cash dividend payments to shareholders in August 2019, a decrease of 14 from the 139 recorded in July 2019, and a decrease of 3 from the 128 dividend rises declared back in August 2018.
• A total of 20 publicly traded companies cut their dividends in August 2019, a decline of 11 from the 31 recorded in July 2019 and also an increase of 5 over the 15 recorded in August 2018.
• 4 U.S. firms omitted paying their dividends in August 2019, an increase of 2 over the number recorded in July 2019. That figure is also an increase of 2 over the total recorded in August 2018.

The following chart shows the monthly increases and decreases for dividends reported by Standard and Poor for each month from January 2004 through August 2019.

We’ve previously presented our ongoing sampling of real time dividend cut announcements for 2019-Q3 with data through 26 August 2019. There were no additions to that list during the remainder of the month.

Meanwhile, if you’d ever like to review our sources, here they are!

References

Standard and Poor. S&P Market Attributes Web File. [Excel Spreadsheet]. 3 September 2019.

Seeking Alpha Market Currents. Filtered for Dividends. [Online Database]. Accessed 30 August 2019.

Wall Street Journal. Dividend Declarations. [Online Database when searched on the Interent Archive]. Accessed 30 August 2019.