Deep Store

Total cash distribution to shareholders (dividends *plus* buybacks), expressed as a percentage of the index level. Computed from Damodaran's monthly ERPbymonth.xlsx: trailing-12-month cash flow per S&P-equivalent share ÷ S&P 500 level. Monthly, 2009-01 through current month.

Why it matters: This is the unbiased version of dividend yield. Since the early 1980s, US corporates have shifted cash distribution from dividends to buybacks (driven by the SEC's Rule 10b-18 in 1982, tax efficiency, and management compensation incentives). Today, buybacks are roughly 2× dividends in dollar terms — meaning the S&P 500's headline 1.16% dividend yield massively understates how much cash shareholders are actually receiving. Total payout yield captures both forms and is the apples-to-apples comparison with the dividend yields of the 1950s-1970s when buybacks barely existed.

How to read it: Range over the 17 years of available history is roughly 2.5%–6%, with the high end seen during 2009 (when buybacks held up while prices collapsed) and 2022 (similar dynamic). Today's reading sits in the middle of that band. Compare with the SP500_DIV_YIELD tile on the same dashboard — the gap between the two is essentially "buyback yield" and tracks management's preferred cash-return mix.

Caveats: Limited history (Sep 2008 onwards — Damodaran started tracking buybacks separately then). Pre-2009 we genuinely don't have a clean equivalent series in this DB. The 30y percentile window falls back to full-available history for this tile. Note also that buyback data is necessarily lagged a quarter or two — the latest reading reflects buybacks announced and executed through the most recent reporting period.