The Dividend Comeback

Dividend stocks and mutual funds that specialize in dividend-payers are enjoying a renaissance. It comes just three years after the financial crisis led many companies to conserve cash by cutting or eliminating dividends. Below are statistics compiled by S&P Indices about dividends paid by companies in the Standard & Poor's 500 index. The figures are updated with this week's news that Apple plans to initiate a dividend, as well as announcements last week by major banks that plan to increase dividends.

- Projected total 2012 dividend payout: $277 billion, up 15 percent from last year, breaking the previous record of $248 billion set in 2008
- Ratio of companies' dividend payouts to cash: 30 percent, compared with historic average of 52 percent
- Percentage of the S&P 500's dividend-paying companies making higher payouts than they did last year: 75
- Number of companies initiating dividends in 2011: 22, a record

Source: Investor's Business Daily

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