Bloomberg: Only 48 companies have discontinued, cut or omitted their dividends YTD. But 285 companies have increased their dividends, 86 have maintained their payouts and two have initiated new ones. Cash distributions so far in 2020 are $192.2 billion, up slightly more than 1.5% from the same period in 2019. There are some caveats that may influence comparisons year-to-year. In 2019, an additional eight companies initiated dividends after 1Q and some increased their dividends later in the year. So far this year, two sectors, health care and industrials, showed growth in payouts, while the largest number of dividend cuts came from consumer discretionary companies followed by consumer staples and energy. But even so, it’s worth noting that nine consumer discretionary companies maintained their dividend and one initiated a payout.