Materials dividend payout ratios

47 companies, computed from their own SEC filings. 20 of them answer differently by 20 points or more depending on which basis you divide by.

What ordinary looks like here

On the basis each company’s own filings make applicable, the median materials company pays out 40.8%. Half sit between 20.1% and 77.5%. Across all 532 companies here the median is 41.9% — 1.1 points less than the site as a whole.

Which basis applies, and to how many

Not a choice — it is what each company’s filings support.

free cash flow 35

Where the bases disagree most

The same dividend, a different answer. These are the widest gaps in materials.

Smart Sand (SND) 486.5 pts
LyondellBasell Industries N.V. (LYB) 381.4 pts
Worthington Steel (WS) 360.3 pts
DuPont de Nemours (DD) 156.4 pts
International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF) 111.6 pts

Lowest payout

Celanese 1.6%
Belden 3.6%
Quanex Building Products 14.6%
Newmont 15.2%
CF Industries Holdings 18.1%

Highest payout

LyondellBasell Industries N.V. 459.4%
DuPont de Nemours 263.0%
International Flavors & Fragrances 159.8%
Huntsman 125.9%
Insteel Industries 114.8%

Common questions

What is a good dividend payout ratio for a materials company?

Measured on the basis its own filings support, the median here is 40.8%, with half between 20.1% and 77.5%. That is the empirical answer for this sector rather than a rule of thumb, and it is the only comparison that means anything — a figure that is ordinary in one sector is stretched in another.

Which measure should a materials company be judged on?

35 of the 35 measured here are read on free cash flow, because that is what their filings support. Each company’s page shows every basis it can be measured on and marks the one that applies.

Where do these numbers come from?

Each company’s own annual filing, read out of SEC XBRL. Every page names the accession number its figures came from and links it to EDGAR, so any figure here can be checked against the source.

All 47 companies

What a dividend payout ratio measures, and why one threshold does not fit every sector.

Ticker	Company	Basis	Yield	Spread	Rating
SND	Smart Sand	FCF	—	486.5	79
LYB	LyondellBasell Industries N.V.	FCF	—	381.4	0
WS	Worthington Steel	FCF	—	360.3	28
DD	DuPont de Nemours	FCF	—	156.4	1
IFF	International Flavors & Fragrances	FCF	—	111.6	8
HUN	Huntsman	FCF	—	75.3	4
LPX	Louisiana-Pacific	FCF	—	72.3	10
FCX	Freeport-Mcmoran	FCF	—	62.1	11
IIIN	Insteel Industries	FCF	—	61.5	6
NOBH	Nobility Homes	FCF	—	54.2	11
EMN	Eastman Chemical	FCF	—	50.6	13
SON	Sonoco Products	FCF	—	39.2	22
STLD	Steel Dynamics	FCF	—	38.0	19
DSWL	Deswell Industries	FCF	—	37.8	15
MDU	MDU Resources Group	—	—	35.2	6
GLW	Corning	FCF	—	33.6	50
PKG	Packaging Corp of America	FCF	—	32.8	49
LIN	Linde	FCF	—	28.1	41
APOG	Apogee Enterprises	FCF	—	23.5	60
PPG	PPG Industries	FCF	—	21.6	32
ATR	Aptargroup	FCF	—	19.1	43
MOS	Mosaic	—	—	17.8	32
AA	Alcoa	FCF	—	16.1	64
FBIN	Fortune Brands Innovations	FCF	—	15.7	45
LUD	Luda Technology Group	FCF	—	15.2	22
CBT	Cabot	FCF	—	14.8	61
GPK	Graphic Packaging Holding	—	—	13.6	34
NUE	Nucor	—	—	13.6	17
ALB	Albemarle	FCF	—	12.7	47
RPM	RPM International	FCF	—	11.0	61
CF	CF Industries Holdings	FCF	—	10.5	57
VMC	Vulcan Materials	FCF	—	9.8	78
MLM	Martin Marietta Materials	FCF	—	9.1	68
CSL	Carlisle Companies	FCF	—	8.1	61
WOR	Worthington Enterprises	FCF	—	7.9	64
NX	Quanex Building Products	FCF	—	5.5	74
NEM	Newmont	FCF	—	4.9	73
BDC	Belden	FCF	—	1.4	66
CE	Celanese	FCF	—	0.5	77
APD	Air Products & Chemicals	—	—	—	10
ASPI	ASP Isotopes	—	—	—	—
CSTE	Caesarstone	—	—	—	73
DOW	DOW	—	—	—	15
FMC	FMC	—	—	—	48
IP	International Paper	—	—	—	16
UAMY	United States Antimony	—	—	—	—
WLK	Westlake	—	—	—	10