Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Dividends Continue to Grow

Dividends continue to be one of the hottest topics in the investing world, in the wake of the announcements of a new payout from Apple and a greatly increased one from JPMorgan Chase. There are now 393 companies issuing dividends, according to a report from FactSet, which is the highest that figure has been in 12 years. On a per-share basis, dividends now amount to $26.78, which is up a full 16 percent over the same time frame a year earlier.

The fastest-growing sectors in terms of offering dividends are financials, materials and technology. In the past year, those three sectors have increased their average dividends by 40 percent, 28 percent and 23.5 percent, respectively.

The most surprising among these is the technology sector. Traditionally, tech stocks have resisted offering dividends because they're perceived as something offered by older companies, ones that have gotten past their growth phase. But now most tech stocks - 53.5 percent - are offering dividends. Ten years ago, in 2002, that figure was just 18 percent.

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