A census of SEC filings by Intrinsiqq, a free stock research site, found that only 35.2% of 4,631 US-listed companies paid a dividend as of October 16, 2026, with Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and Tesla among the non-payers. Utilities had the highest share of payers at 69.2%, and 52.6% of those had raised dividends for at least ten consecutive years, yet only 20.3% of utility payers (15 of 74) generated enough free cash flow to cover the payout. Across dividend payers outside banks, insurers and REITs, 76.5% had free cash flow covering their dividends. Nearly half of US-listed companies (46.7%) were unprofitable over the past year. In the S&P 500, 81.3% pay dividends according to S&P Dow Jones Indices for Q4 2025, a figure that counts share issues rather than companies.
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Related tickers and likely impact
AMZN
• NeutralAmazon
Relevance: low
| Market | US stocks |
|---|---|
| Sector | Consumer Discretionary |
| Industry | Broadline Retail |
| Market cap | $2.6T |
| Close on 11/04/2026 | 266.14 |
| Change that session | +6.16% |
Impact is scored by AI from the headline and may be wrong. It is not investment advice.
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