Second-Quarter Dividend Champions

Why should you care about dividend payouts? According to Standard & Poor's, in the first quarter the amount of companies currently paying a regular cash dividend increased from 37.9% to 39.3%, but the overall yield paid to investors actually fell slightly, from 2.41% to 2.39%. This means it's getting harder to find quality dividend payers although the field of paying companies is increasing. Also, as fellow Fool Morgan Housel elaborates, stock buybacks are vastly outpacing dividend growth rates. A staggering 219 companies in the S&P 500 spent more on buybacks in the second quarter than they did on dividends. While you could easily argue that stock buybacks favor shareholders, I'd much rather have a guaranteed quarterly cash payment coming my way.... Read more