US banks bounce bank to be the S&P’s top dividend payers
FINANCIAL stocks are the biggest payers of dividends in the US’ S&P 500 index of major firms, a new analysis announced yesterday.
Banks and other finance firms are set to pay $56.7bn (£38.2bn) over the next 12 months, up 3.9 per cent from $54.6bn in the past year, according to data from Howard Silverblatt, a senior index analyst at S&P Dow Jones Indices.
The surge means the sector now accounts for 15.1 per cent of the S&P 500’s dividends, seizing the top spot from Information Technology (IT), whose businesses account for 14.8 per cent of payouts.
Rising to the top position once more reflects the turnaround in the finance sector’s fortunes in recent years.
Back in 2007 its dividends made up 30 per cent of all payouts, and the slow climb back from the crash means the sector’s dividends still only amount to half of that level.