According to this story in the Wall Street Journal, the first quarter saw the dividend rate for S&P 500 companies jumped by the biggest rate in two years:
In 2009, S&P 500 companies paid out $196 billion in cash dividends, a large $52 billion decline from 2008.
During the quarter, the companies in the index registered net positive announcements of $4.4 billion in expected payments, the largest since $6.7 billion in the fourth quarter of 2007 and a sharp contrast from the record $38.7 billion decrease a year earlier.
So far in the quarter, 75 companies in the index have increased their dividend rates, with two decreasing. This compares favorably to the first quarter of 2009, which was the worst quarter for dividends in history with 55 increases and 46 decreases.
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Interesting that today I received a bulletin from American Funds stating they are reducing the dividend on their Washington Mutual Investors Fund from $0.175 to $0.15 to “reflect recent and anticipated reductions in dividends paid by companies held in the portfolios.” Washington Mutual is a large cap value fund.