Total Return vs Price Change Spreads
As we mentioned in today’s Chart of the Day, there can be a wide spread between total returns and price change based on dividend yield. Although it doesn’t always make financial sense for a company to pay dividends, they can certainly magnify returns all else equal. Click here to start a two-week trial to Bespoke Premium and receive our paid content in real-time.
The table below outlines twenty S&P 500 stocks that have seen a high percentage of their returns over the last twenty years come from dividends. The average stock on this list has seen over 80% of their gains over the last two decades come from dividends alone. Although the average stock on this list has only seen a price gain of 61.1% since August of 2002, their average total return when factoring in dividends re-invested has been 278%.
To show you what we mean, below is a chart of price change versus total return over the last 20 years for Altria Group (MO). As you can see, the dividend in this case turns a below average stock into an outperformer. Click here to start a two-week trial to Bespoke Premium and receive our paid content in real-time.
