The coronavirus has prompted companies to accumulate money. Now they are starting to distribute it.

After having scrambled to accumulate liquidity in the spring, some large American companies which halted their dividend payments are reversing their decision, a sign that their leaders believe that the worst of the crisis is behind them.

Earlier this year, as much of the country’s economy shut down during the first waves of the coronavirus pandemic, companies pulled cash from lines of credit, stopped repurchasing stocks, and moved on. halted dividend payments with uncertainty. The public health problem continues, but many businesses – from factories to law firms – have learned how to operate during the pandemic. Retailers, quick-service restaurants and automakers are doing better, and executives are hoping that new restrictions to tackle the latest wave of cases in the United States won’t be so severe.

“Multinationals are starting to expire,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics. “The resumption of dividend payments to companies is an encouraging sign that executives believe the pandemic is soon behind us.”

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Kohl’s Corp. was one of 42 companies in the S&P 500 index to have suspended its dividend to preserve cash flow after the arrival of the Covid-19 virus. In September, CFO Jill Timm said the retailer would protect its cash reserves amid continued uncertainty. “As we see stabilization we will start paying a dividend again,” she said at an investor conference.

Its tone changed last week when the department store chain released third-quarter results that showed its business was picking up after the locations reopened. Revenue was down 14%, compared to 23% in the previous quarter. Kohl’s has said it will resume its dividend in the first half of 2021.

“We have shown gradual improvement and stability in the business,” Ms. Timm said on a conference call.

A company’s decision to pay a dividend usually depends on management’s ability to have sufficient cash flow for other uses – after payment – as well as its ability to access other cash. It is a commitment to make regular payments to shareholders and its suspension is often a last resort in a crisis.

Of the 42 companies in the S&P 500 that suspended their dividends earlier this year, six have resumed paying their dividends and several others have given a timeline to do the same, according to the S&P Dow Jones Indices.

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Despite the economic shocks this year, many large companies have made it through the pandemic, and some are profiting by taking market share from tighter competition. “It may not be a barometer of the strength of the economy as a whole,” Zandi said, referring to new dividend payments.

Oil producer Marathon Oil Corp. halted its dividend payments in May after falling oil prices due to lower gasoline and jet fuel consumption, with millions working from home and avoiding driving and flying. Last month, the company declared a dividend for payment in December.

“We believe we have been successful in repositioning our company to be successful in an environment of lower and more volatile commodity prices,” said CEO Lee Tillman at the time.

Other companies resuming dividends include Darden Restaurants Inc., operator of Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse and other chains; cosmetics company Estée Lauder Cos .; and timber giant Weyerhaeuser Co.

Clothing chain Gap Inc. suspended its dividend in March while skipping rent payments, issuing loans and drawing cash from its line of credit. In late October, CFO Katrina O’Connell said the company “would return to paying a consistent and competitive dividend” in early 2021.

General Motors Co. CEO Mary Barra told investors in early November that the company would aim to resume its dividend, suspended in April, around mid-2021 if the current recovery continues for the automaker. In 2019, GM paid more than $ 2.3 billion in dividends to shareholders.

Louis Navellier, chief investment officer at financial manager Navellier & Associates Inc., said companies were working to free cash flow in the pandemic and he was seeing more companies picking up dividends. He expects investors to focus more on dividend-paying stocks as interest rates will stay low for an extended period. “I think the dividends will become bigger and more companies will,” he said.

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Some companies do more than just take back dividends.

Retailer TJX Cos. Said last week he would resume his dividend, but at a rate 13% higher than he last paid in March, citing his cash flow and $ 10.6 billion in cash on his balance sheet. The company has reopened most of the TJ Maxx, Marshalls and HomeGoods stores it had closed in the spring.

“We are very optimistic about the long-term outlook, as we feel much better than at the start of [the third quarter] when we didn’t know where it was all going, ”CEO Ernie Herrman said on a conference call.

One of the country’s largest hospital chains, Universal Health Systems Inc., said Thursday it was not yet ready to start paying a dividend again, in large part because of the recent surge in cases at across the country. If the company can get through another tough time of Covid-19, CFO Steve Filton said on a conference call, it would feel more comfortable paying money to shareholders in the form of dividends and share buybacks.

“We would like to go through the next two months,” Mr. Filton said, “and then maybe in February, take stock of where we are.”