Monday, June 23, 2008

Financials Bear Brunt Of Dividend Decreases

In an ongoing dividend data report maintained by Standard & Poor's, they detail dividend actions by sector. Not surprisingly, the negative dividend actions have been centered in the financial sector. The below spreadsheet shows that 17 out of the 20 negative dividend announcements through June 18, 2008 were from financial firms. The entire spreadsheet can be found at this link.



The one misleading consumer staples dividend decrease reported in the above table is Altria's (MO) dividend reduction. Altria reduced its dividend simultaneously with the spin off of Phillip Morris International (PM). However, the combined PM and MO dividend equals the old MO dividend.

Data Source: Standard & Poor's (Excel file)


2 comments :

Anonymous said...

This goes well with the article I wrote tonight about the fact that the rich (energy) continue to get richer and the poor (financials) get poorer.

http://www.growyourfunds.com/2008/06/the_rich_get_richer_and_the_po.html

Anonymous said...

Great read! Most dividend investors have felt the pain of the financials problems.

Best Wishes,
D4L