Dividends Hit a Record. Thank Disney and Meta Platforms.

Corporate America is showing investors the money. Dividend payments from U.S. companies hit a new record of $164.3 billion in the first quarter, up 7% from a year ago, according to the latest Janus Henderson Global Dividend Index released Thursday morning. Tech giants Microsoft and Apple are big dividend payers, as are fellow components JPMorgan Chase Chevron Johnson & Johnson and Verizon Costco Wholesale was also a dividend darling, thanks to a one-time special dividend of $15 a share (about $6.7 billion in total) that it paid in January, in addition to its regular payout.