Dividend payout reached another record in 2017 according to a study by Janus Henderson. The trend is likely to continue and they predict dividend payouts to increase by 8% this year.
The following firms were the top 10 dividend payers in 2017:
| Rank | Company |
|---|---|
| 1 | Royal Dutch Shell |
| 2 | China Mobile |
| 3 | Exxon Mobil |
| 4 | Apple |
| 5 | Microsoft |
| 6 | AT&T |
| 7 | HSBC |
| 8 | China Construction Bank |
| 9 | Verizon Communications |
| 10 | Johnson & Johnson |
| Total | $120.5bn |
| % of total | 9.60% |
Two of the top dividend payers in the world are from China. The rest of them are from either the US or developed Europe. After years of struggling oil majors are starting to generate decent profits and are slowly rewarding their shareholder with higher payouts. From an article at U.S. Funds:
Major Oil Producers Are Rewarding Investors and Have Been Growing Dividends
- As the above chart demonstrates, oil companies are leaning up. In the final quarter of 2017, profits were back to 2014 levels due to CEOs focusing on squeezing more out of each dollar through slowing projects, renegotiating contracts and shrinking the workforce.
- Although oil production has been flat for the past few years between the five supermajors, companies are focusing on earning more per barrel rather than boosting production volume.
- Companies have also been rewarding shareholders by using cash to increase dividends. Major producers Exxon, Shell and Chevron have been boosting their dividends and have 5-year dividend growth of 7 percent, 4.3 percent and 4.2 percent, respectively, as of 12/31/2017.
Among the tech giants, Apple(AAPL) and Microsoft(MSFT) are now sought after for their dividend income by investors. This is a huge shift from the dot com days when most tech firms paid no dividends and were mainly considered for their growth prospects.
Disclosure: No Positions
