Companies Paid a Record $1.7 Trillion in Dividends Last Year. These 3 Dividend Stocks Led the Way.
According to a report by Janus Henderson Global, companies paid a staggering $1.7 trillion in dividends to their shareholders in 2023. That was a record amount of cash payments, 5% above 2022's total.
Hundreds of companies helped drive the corporate sector's record dividend outlay. However, three rose to the top as the biggest payers: (NASDAQ: MSFT), Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), and ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM). Here's a look at what they paid investors last year and whether these leading dividend stocks can continue enriching their investors through dividends.
Microsoft paid $20.7 billion in dividends last year, which was the most of any company. The technology titan is routinely one of the top dividend-paying stocks. It was the leader in 2020, placed second in 2021, and was third in 2022. It was able to reclaim its spot at the top by increasing its dividend (it boosted its dividend per share by 10% in each of the last two years). Meanwhile, the leader of the last two years, mining giant BHP Group, has paid less in dividends due to lower commodity prices.
Source Fool.com
Microsoft Corp. Stock
The stock is one of the favorites of our community with 107 Buy predictions and 2 Sell predictions.
With a target price of 420 € there is a slightly positive potential of 1.6% for Microsoft Corp. compared to the current price of 413.4 €.
