Exxon Mobil (XOM) and Apple (AAPL) led all S&P 500 companies in stock dividends paid in the second quarter, says a new report from FactSet Research.
Exxon Mobil paid $3.13 billion in dividends in Q2, barely edging Apple at $3.12 billion. But Apple dominated the field in dividends and share buybacks in Q2 combined, totaling $14 billion, followed by General Electric (GE), then Microsoft (MSFT), says FactSet.
FactSet said aggregate quarterly dividends for the S&P 500 amounted to $105.8 billion in Q2, an increase of 0.8% from Q2 2015. It was the second-largest dividend total in at least 10 years, following Q1 2016. Firms in the S&P 500 also spent $125.1 billion on share buybacks during Q2, the smallest quarterly total since Q3 2013.
IBD'S TAKE: A dividend is a payment made by a company to its shareholders, usually as a distribution of profit, in order to return wealth. Dividends put cash in shareholders' hands, while stock buybacks are also a popular way to return capital to shareholders, tending to boost a stock and per-share earnings. Current and annual earnings are keys to IBD's CAN SLIM.
At the sector level, companies in information technology led all 10 S&P industry groups in terms of aggregate dividends paid during Q2, at $16.4 billion. Over the trailing 12-month period, the IT sector paid out dividends totaling $64.7 billion, led by Apple, Microsoft and IBM (IBM). The consumer staples sector was second, with $56 billion in dividend distribution over the 12-month period, led by Procter & Gamble (PG), Philip Morris International (PM) and Wal-Mart Stores (WMT).
The total dividend payout for the 12 months ending in Q2 amounted to $427.5 billion, up 7.1% year over year and the largest total in at least 10 years. It also marked the 10th consecutive quarter that the trailing 12-month dividend payout for the S&P 500 index hit a new high.
Apple stock rose nearly 1% in the stock market today, to 114.62. Exxon Mobil stock rose a fraction, to 83.54.
