Fewer Firms Increasing Dividends

Standard & Poor’s announced that of the approximately 7,000 publicly owned companies that report dividend information to Standard & Poor’s Dividend Record, only 377 increased their dividend during the third quarter of 2006. This represents a 3.6% decline from the 391 issues that increased their dividend during the third quarter of 2005. Furthermore, Standard & Poor’s Dividend Record reports that September 2006 dividend increases dropped 17.6% to 89 from the 108 recorded during the same period last year.

“While Standard & Poor’s attributes the slowdown in dividend growth to the rapid rise in share buybacks, the declines mark the first downturn in dividend increases since their rebirth in 2003,” said Howard Silverblatt, senior index analyst at Standard & Poor’s, in a statement.