The Dividend-Cut Flood

July 9, 2008

Today, Standard & Poor’s reported that:

97 companies out of the approximately 7,000 publicly owned companies that report dividend information to S&P decreased their dividend in the second quarter.

This was the most since 1990, when 108 issues decreased their dividend payments.

On a dollar basis the damage is coming from Financial issues, which saw reductions in annual payments by over $13 billion.

Howard Silverblatt, Senior Index Analyst at Standard & Poor’s, "also notes that many issues that traditionally increase their dividend rate every few years now appear to be holding off. On the positive side, we are still seeing many dividend payers with positive EPS and positive cash flow.’"

Complete Story »