Zhishang Caijing APP noted that according to S&P Dow Jones Indices data, the net common stock dividends for US domestic equities increased by $16.05 billion in the second quarter, compared to an increase of $16.03 billion in the previous quarter.

This growth is mainly due to Alphabet (GOOGL.US) starting to distribute dividends for the first time. The Google owner announced a dividend of $0.20 per share.

The report stated that Alphabet's payout accounted for $9.3 billion of the second quarter growth, while the first-time payouts of Booking (BKNG.US), Meta Platform (META.US), and Salesforce (CRM.US) in the first quarter of 2024 accounted for $7.2 billion.

Index analyst Howard Silverblatt said,"Compared with the previous quarter, the number of dividend increases in the second quarter of 2024 has increased again, but it still lags behind the same period last year because companies continue to be cautious in making future payments they commit to."

On a per-share basis, dividends paid by the S&P 500 index rose 1.2% to $18.28 per share in the second quarter from the first quarter. 539 companies increased their dividends in the second quarter, while 21 companies reduced their dividends.

Silverblatt added that six major banks, including Bank of America (BAC.US), Citigroup (C.US), Goldman Sachs (GS.US), JPMorgan Chase (JPM.US), Morgan Stanley (MS.US), and Wells Fargo (WFC.US), raised their dividends by $3.5 billion following the positive stress test results from the Federal Reserve and after the close of the first half of the year.

The report stated that with the approaching of the earnings season, Silverblatt expects even more growth.