S&P 500 Stocks Keep Cutting and Suspending Dividends in April By Lawrence C. Strauss Updated April 27, 2020 7:36 am ET / Original April 26, 2020 9:00 am ET Order Reprints Print Article Text size Photograph by Spencer Platt/Getty Images April has certainly been a cruel month when it comes to dividends. As of Friday afternoon, nine S&P 500 companies had suspended their dividends this month and about half a dozen others had announced decreases as part of the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. With the U.S. economy under siege, companies are trying to preserve cash, leaving dividends vulnerable to cuts or suspensions. The S&P 500 companies that have suspended their dividend this month include cruise operator Carnival (ticker: CCL), cosmetics company Estee Lauder (EL), hospital firm HCA Healthcare (HCA), Hilton Worldwide Holdings (HLT), retailer Kohl’s (KSS), and casino operator Las Vegas Sands (LVS). Other S&P 500 companies suspending their payouts include footwear and apparel retailer Tapestry (TPR) and PVH(PVH), which makes clothing such as dress shirts. Tapestry said in a recent press release that it will suspend its quarterly cash dividend starting in its fiscal fourth quarter, which it is in now. The company’s fiscal year ends in June. Meanwhile, the retailer TJX (TJX) said in its most recent 10K filing late last month that it didn’t intend to declare a dividend for its fiscal first quarter of 2021, which ends April 30. Like many retailers, the company’s fiscal year ends in January. Those S&P 500 companies announcing dividend cuts this month include oil services firm Schlumberger (SLB). It declared a quarterly dividend of 12.5 cents a share, down 75% from 50 cents, on April 17. Alliance Data Systems (ADS) is dropping its quarterly dividend from 63 cents a share to 21 cents. Center Point Energy (CNP), a large utility based in Houston, plans to lower its quarterly dividend to 15 cents a share from 29 cents.Regulated utilities, for the most part, have offered better dividend safety than many other sectors have so far during the crisis. CenterPoint Energy, however, holds a large stake in a master limited partnership that cut its dividend its well. Meanwhile, Helmerich & Payne (HP),whose businesses include contract oil and gas drilling, announced it will slash its quarterly disbursement to 25 cents from 71 cents. That applies to future dividend payments after the one that’s paid on June 1, the company said in a filing. The energy sector has been particularly hard hit, thanks to the pandemic and a glut of oil supply globally. Exploration and production company Noble Energy (NBL) said earlier this month that it will reduce its quarterly payout to an annual rate of 8 cents a share, or 2 cents a quarter. Its latest quarterly dividend was 12 cents a share. Elsewhere, asset manager Invesco (IVZ) plans to pay a quarterly dividend of 15.5 cents a share, down from 31 cents, starting in the second quarter. Dividend cuts and suspensions began to crop up last month. Year to date, there have been 11 decreases and 20 suspensions among S&P 500 companies, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices. Write to Lawrence C. Strauss at lawrence.strauss@barrons.com https://www.barrons.com/articles/more-s-p-500-companies-suspend-or-cut-dividends-51587906001
Yeah but, THE FED! YEA THE FED! YEA STIMULUS AND MORE STIMULUS! Have we learned NOTHING from history?
And to think dividends are one of the largest assets to the very rich and wealthy!!!! Seems the more the halt nd cut dividends the higher stocks run!!!! S$p to 3000 this week! All because earnings will be spectacular. Tsla amazon apple Keep buying. Tesla could go to a 1000 Wednesday night!!!
LOL, maybe in the 1950s or something. Even then most of them had other investments (real estate, investment-oriented insurance products, etc.) since tax rates were really high. The reality is very few people live off stock dividends, despite books and sites that promote that strategy. The very rich and wealthy don't play the same games as the masses.
You forgot to mention central banks and stock buybacks. Seriously, everything is really awesome right now. Millions of people are making more money than they were 3 months ago without even having to work. Once the Fed embraces MMT as a permanent solution, no one will have to work. And to you dollar bears, the DXY is higher now than anytime during Obama's presidency. So the dollar actually likes the money printing. Maybe it will go even higher if we print even more. We'll just keep sending checks to people and then they will have lots more time to focus on doing what the economy really needs to get stronger - increase spending.
I wonder why hospital firm HCA Healthcare (HCA) is cutting their dividend, isn't running hospitals a recession, depression proof business?
Fade that. Only reason the dollar is stronger is because other currencies are crappier. The dollar will remain the "cleanest dirty shirt" until the world agrees upon a basket of currencies to replace it. The US will not cave on that notion easily. MMT is ridiculous. You can't print your way to prosperity.... been tried HUNDREDS of time through history... never worked even one time.
I'm hoping that was a joke. It's hard to know when you have a generation who take Sanders, Occasional-Cortex and others seriously, though.