Dividend growth accelerated in the first quarter to a record $164.3 billion, propelled by distributions from companies such as Meta (META), Walt Disney & Co. (DIS), and T-Mobile (TMUS), according to a recent Janu🎀s Henderson Global Dividend Index report. And that's not includin♍g any special or one-time payout announcements.

If you take into account events such as Costco's (COST) distribution of profits from strong quarterly sales to shareholders, and Ford Motor's (F) 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:one-off 18 cents boost to shareholders in Q1, first quarter dividends grew by almost 7.9%.

Dividend Growth Drivers

While 97% of U.S. companies increased their 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:dividend payments, or held them steady in the first quarter, according to Janus Henderson, a few companies led the charge for dividend growth.

Meta was the biggest contributor to the overall number with its 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:first-ever dividend. The company paid out $1.1 billion per quarter, which was only a fifth of its share repurchase program, but enough to add two-thirds of a percentage point to U.S. div☂idend growth for the quarter.

Communications firm T-Mobile also made a first-ever dividend payment in December and followed it with another in Q1, adding roughly half a percentage point to the quarterly growth. Walt Disney & Co. finally bounced back from its pandemic malaise with a return to dividend payments in Q1, helped by a 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:surprise profit in its streaming division.

Novartis (NVS), Microsoft (MSFT), Costco, Apple (AAPL), and Novo Nordisk (NVO) feature among the world's biggest dividend paying companies for the first quarter of the year.