The performance of US stocks was strong, and the company's dividend reached a record high in the first quarter of this year

Asset management company “Janus Henderson” (Janus Henderson) released a report on the 23rd showing that US stocks performed strongly in the first quarter of this year, and many companies set new records for first-quarter dividends.

“Junli Henderson” tracks the dividend payments of the world's 1,200 largest listed companies and found that these companies paid a total of US$339.2 billion in dividends in the first quarter of this year, which not only increased 2.4% over the same period in 2023, but also set a new historical record.

According to the report, dividend payments only account for 20% of Meta's return of shareholders' profits through stock buybacks (stock buybacks).

The report stated that in the first quarter, “various industries generally showed strong momentum, and most of them achieved steady single-digit progress.” Among them, the banking sector promoted economic growth, with an increase of 12%, accounting for 25% of the overall increase.

On the other hand, dividends in the transportation industry have plummeted. In particular, the Danish shipping company and Maersk (Maersk), the second-largest shipping company in the world, saw a sharp drop in dividends. Maersk avoided an important Red Sea waterway in 2023 due to attacks by Yemeni rebels, and profits shrunk.

By region, the US set historical quarterly records, while Canada and Sweden broke first-quarter records.

Ben Lofthouse (Ben Lofthouse), head of the global equity earnings department of “Junley Henderson,” and Jane Shoemake (Jane Shoemake), the team's client investment manager, said, “Investors had a strong start to the year. Global stock prices have risen, and dividend growth has maintained the strong momentum achieved at the end of 2023.”

They added that the second quarter showed “continued elasticity,” and “Junley Henderson” did not change the 3.9% increase in dividend payments this year, reaching a record forecast of 1.72 trillion US dollars.