Dividend Cuts and Increases by Year

Raises and material cuts per calendar year, computed from split-adjusted annual dividend totals across our covered universe.

Dividends are cyclical: raises dominate in expansions, and cuts cluster tightly in recessions. Counting both per year — from actual payment records rather than announcements — shows how rare cuts are in normal years and how sharply they spike under stress.

• The highest cut rate in our data came in 2009, when 214 of 899 comparable payers (23.8%) reduced their annual payout by more than 20%.
• 2004 was the strongest year for raises: 526 of 710 comparable payers (74%) increased their annual total.
• In 2025, the most recent full year, 1117 payers raised and 124 cut (6.6% cut rate).

For every covered security we sum split-adjusted regular dividends per calendar year (specials excluded, future-dated declarations excluded). A year counts as a raise when the annual total rose versus the prior year, and as a cut when it fell by more than 20% — the same materiality threshold the rest of the site uses. Years with fewer than 50 comparable payers are omitted.

History reflects TODAY'S covered universe (survivorship): companies that delisted before our coverage began are absent, which undercounts events in early years. Treat early-year levels as indicative, and year-to-year shape as the signal.

Sources: Dividendly dividend history (originally sourced from FMP, cross-checked against Tiingo). Computed Aug 27, 2026.

Data updated Aug 27, 2026. This research page is generated from Dividendly's structured market and dividend dataset using the approach described on our methodology and data sources pages. Data is automatically validated using defined rules and may also be periodically reviewed. Research only, not investment advice. Spotted a data error? Report it.