Big Companies Remain Dividend Holdouts Four Years After Pandemic Began
Nearly 200 U.S.-listed companies stopped paying a dividend in 2020, but most have restored them. Four years later, almost 50 are holding off as inflation and higher interest rates slow their path to full recovery.
Call them the dividend holdouts. Companies including Boeing and Carnival, for example, have placed other financial priorities ahead of reviving their dividend, such as reducing leverage, addressing production problems, and making capital investments.
In 2020, 187 companies suspended or canceled their dividend to preserve cash as the COVID-19 pandemic pressured their balance sheets, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence, a data provider. Thirty-nine restored their dividend that same year, followed by 53 in 2021 and 31 in 2022. That pace has since slowed, with nine companies, including Disney, Delta Air Lines, and Hyatt Hotels, reviving the investor payouts in 2023 and so far one, commercial printer Quad/Graphics, this year.
That leaves 47 companies, or roughly a quarter, that haven’t revived their dividend, with seven other companies delisting in recent years. These holdouts include some of America’s largest listed companies—American Airlines Group, Aptiv, Boeing, Carnival, Expedia Group, Royal Caribbean Cruises, and Western Digital—which are all in the S&P 500. Household names like Abercrombie & Fitch and Dave & Buster’s also haven’t brought back their dividend.