Southwest Airlines has an impressive 650% DPS growth over the last three years
Frank Holmes | April 15, 2016: The following is an excerpt from an article posted on Usfunds.com:
Activist investors are pushing for more distributions, with 2015 marking an all-time high for the number of activist campaigns. FactSet estimates that there were 70 last year, a 37 percent increase from the previous year.
Real dividends per share (DPS) for S&P 500 Index companies stood at $43.40 in the trailing 12 months that ended in the fourth quarter. This was the largest aggregate DPS “in at least 10 years,” according to FactSet.
In the fourth quarter, blue chips collectively raised their dividend payouts to $104 billion, a 3.6 percent increase for the 12-month period and 0.6 percent hike from the third quarter. For the entire year, dividends amounted to $415.4 billion, the second-highest total in 10 years.
One of the factors we look at is DPS growth over the past three years, as this suggests long-term sustainability. Many companies have increased their dividends significantly in this period, from Tyson Foods (200 percent) to Vulcan Materials (900 percent).
Having consistently paid a quarterly dividend since 1976, Southwest Airlines has an impressive 650 percent DPS growth over the last three years.
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