S&P 500 dividend yield hits historic low as just 5 members still offer 6% or more

The S&P 500’s dividend yield has fallen to approximately 1.045%, the lowest level ever recorded for the index. That undercuts the previous all-time low of around 1.1%, set during the dot-com frenzy of the early 2000s, and sits well below the long-term average of roughly 1.62%. For context, the yield rarely dipped below 3% before the 1990s. Where the yield actually lives Out of 500 names in the index, only about five still carry forward dividend yields at or above 6%. That short list includes Pfizer, VICI Properties, General Mills, and Verizon Communications, among a small cohort spread across pharmaceuticals, real estate investment trusts, consumer staples, and telecom. Pfizer leads the pack with an estimated yield between 6.3% and 6.9%. VICI Properties, the casino and entertainment REIT, sits in a similar range at roughly 6.8% to 6.9%. General Mills clocks in around 6.6%, while Verizon’s yield lands somewhere between 5.9% and 6.5% depending on the data source. That’s the mechanics behind the record low: stock prices have climbed aggressively while actual dividend payments haven’t kept pace. Yield is just a fraction, after all. When the denominator (price) grows faster than the...