PRO Talks: S&P's Howard Silverblatt on dividend investing, stock buybacks

Howard Silverblatt, S&P's index guru, shares his market views in an exclusive interview for CNBC PRO with Mike Santoli.

On dividend investing: "The dividend increases year-over-year … have been modest, lower than they were in prior years. Basically, companies while they tout their shareholder returns, in buybacks as well in dividends, have not increased as much as they were before," Silverblatt said. However "dividends, even at a two percent level, is a decent return and you have a tax advantage."

The S&P 500 currently has a 1.9 percent dividend yield, according to FactSet.

Silverblatt is senior index analyst for S&P Dow Jones Indices. He is responsible for the statistical analysis of the firm's indices including the . He joined Standard & Poor's in 1977.

There is approximately $7.8 trillion bench-marked to the S&P 500 index, according to the company's website.

He also discusses:

  • Market liquidity.
  • Valuations.
  • Sector investing.
  • Corporate balance sheets.
  • Stock buybacks.
  • Wall Street earnings estimates.

The interview is exclusively for CNBC PRO subscribers.

—CNBC's Crystal Mercedes contributed to this report.