If you have participated in the markets recently then you certainly have noticed the sharp sell off. While this can create a ton of concern for investors, one benefit to this is the increase in dividends offered by many of the cash rich, profitable companies. Today we take a quick look at the dividends offered in the S&P 500.
In the S&P 500 many investors lean towards REIT's for their dividend payouts as they have a history and obligation to pay out the majority of their returns to shareholders. There are currently 11 REIT's that pay 4% or greater but that doesn't really impress investors as they are used to that area of the market offering high yields.
If we remove the 11 REIT's from the list we now have 65 names in the S&P 500 that are offering dividends yields of 4% or more. There are 27 names (aside from REIT's) that offer a dividend yield of 5% or more.
Many of these names are strong brands which have either went through a period of adjusting to new economic challenges, brand rebuilding, or simply sold off with recent market pressure.
Limited Brands
A quick scan of the S&P 500 shows that there is now at least one name in every sector of the market that offers a dividend yield of 4.5% or greater. While dividend investing may not be the major focus of every investor, who would turn down an extra 4%?
