Historic Data
The data for S&P 500 is taken from . The payout rate has gradually declined from 90% of operating earnings in 1940s to about 30% in recent years.
| Decade | Price % | Dividend | Total | Dividends as % | Average |
| Change | Contribution | Return | of Total Return | Payout | |
| 1930s | -41.90% | 56.00% | 14.10% | N/A | 90.10% |
| 1940s | 34.8 | 100.3 | 135.1 | 74.20% | 59.4 |
| 1950s | 256.7 | 180 | 436.7 | 41.2 | 54.6 |
| 1960s | 53.7 | 54.2 | 107.9 | 50.2 | 56 |
| 1970s | 17.2 | 59.1 | 76.3 | 77.5 | 45.5 |
| 1980s | 227.4 | 143.1 | 370.5 | 38.6 | 48.6 |
| 1990s | 315.7 | 95.5 | 411.2 | 23.2 | 47.6 |
| 2000s | -15 | 8.6 | -6.4 | N/A | 32.3 |
| Average | 106.10% | 87.10% | 193.20% | 50.80% | 54.30% |
For smaller growth companies, the average payout ratio can be as low as 10%.
Read more about this topic: Dividend Payout Ratio
Famous quotes containing the words historic and/or data:
“Never is a historic deed already completed when it is done but always only when it is handed down to posterity. What we call “history” by no means represents the sum total of all significant deeds.... World history ... only comprises that tiny lighted sector which chanced to be placed in the spotlight by poetic or scholarly depictions.”
—Stefan Zweig (18811942)
“Mental health data from the 1950’s on middle-aged women showed them to be a particularly distressed group, vulnerable to depression and feelings of uselessness. This isn’t surprising. If society tells you that your main role is to be attractive to men and you are getting crow’s feet, and to be a mother to children and yours are leaving home, no wonder you are distressed.”
—Grace Baruch (20th century)