About $19 billion is about to begin flowing into the pockets of shareholders in the form of dividend payments after a bumper company profit season.
The payouts from stock market listed companies including the Commonwealth Bank, Woolworths and Telstra will begin just after Easter and equate to about 1.2 per cent of GDP, CommSec economists say.
A record 91.2 per cent of listed companies that reported profit results during February chose to pay a dividend, with more than three quarters increasing or maintaining their dividend pay outs.
However the $19 billion worth of dividend payouts was dwarfed by the $24.7 billion given to shareholders a year ago.
The primary reason for the fall is smaller dividend payments by mining giants BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto, and oil and gas group Woodside Petroleum, which have been hit by the prolonged downturn in commodity and oil prices.
While the returns for investors in the resources sector are weaker, banking giant Commonwealth Bank will hand out around $3.4 billion to shareholders in the form of a $1.98-a-share interim dividend.
Telstra will shell out $1.9 billion based on its interim dividend of 15.5 cents a share, while retail heavyweight Wesfarmers will deliver just over $1 billion after rewarding shareholders with a 91-cent dividend.
CommSec economists Craig James and Savanth Sebastian said investors were faced with a choice over what to do with their dividend payments - go out and spend them or reinvest.
"While dividends flow at this time every year, the dollars potentially could lift spending," they said.
"And as such the amount and timing of the dividend payments is of importance to the Reserve Bank."
The economists said while companies continue to prefer paying dividends, it is important they strike a balance and not neglect investment and acquisition opportunities.
"It is a matter of determining the right return on investment and this isn't a purely mathematical question," they said.
Of the $19 billion in estimated total dividend payments, just under half will be paid out by companies to their shareholders in the week after Easter.
A further $4.7 billion is scheduled to be paid the following week, with the remainder in the following two weeks, according to CommSec.
The dividend train will then roll on to May when Westpac, ANZ and National Australia Bank set to report their interim results.
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