US dividends reached $148B in the second quarter, but which industries led the way?

investmentnews.com:

Shareholders in U.S. firms saw dividends grow by 4.6% on an underlying basis in the second quarter of 2023 and by 2.9% on a headline basis including special dividends, exchange rate effects and other technical factors.

Firms paid out $148 billion to shareholders with 98% of them increasing or holding payouts from the previous quarter according to the Janus Henderson Global Dividend Index, which noted that this was the sixth consecutive quarter of slowing U.S. dividend growth.

The industries driving dividend growth in the quarter were healthcare led by UnitedHealth Group and Eli Lilly, and real estate led by logistics property specialist Prologis.

Banks posted strong dividends globally, with some exceptions, and accounted for half the global growth in Q2 as rising interest rates boosted margins and pandemic-related disruption to dividend payments finally worked its way out of the numbers.

Meanwhile, global dividends grew 4.9% on a headline basis to a new record high of $568.1 trillion, while underlying growth was 6.3% with single annual payments from European companies dominating the growth. The region posted the fastest growth for dividends globally and paid out almost $185 trillion.

Globally, 88% of companies either increased dividends or held them steady in Q2.

Ben Lofthouse, head of global equity income at Janus Henderson said that economic growth is moderating globally in response to higher interest rates.

“Markets now expect global profits to be flat this year, after soaring to record highs in 2022, and companies around the world are now more cautious about the outlook,” he said. “While employment levels have remained very strong, parts of Europe have experienced technical recessions and policymakers everywhere are