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    U.S. Corporate Annual Meetings to Peak Tomorrow, May 23

    ROCKVILLE, Md. (May 22, 2024) – The peak of the U.S. corporate annual meeting season this year will fall on Thursday, May 23, according to an analysis by ISS-Corporate, a leading provider of compensation, governance, cyber risk monitoring, and sustainability offerings to help companies improve shareholder value and reduce risk.

    In all, 149 Russell 3,000 companies will hold their annual meetings on May 23, representing five percent of the universe. The peak of 149 meetings falling on May 23 is followed by May 15 (127 meetings), May 22 (117), those slated for June 6 (109), and those held on May 16 (104), for the highest volume meeting dates in 2024.

    The U.S. annual meeting season thus far has seen a surge of interest from investors on governance and compensation related proposals and a rebound of support for environmental and social proposals, following a sharp decline in support of these proposals in recent years. The volume of shareholder proposals on ballots for annual meetings of [Russell 3,000] companies held between January 1 through May 31 jumped 24 percent from 2020 to 2024, a rise driven in part by increases in governance and compensation related proposals as well as so called “anti-ESG” shareholder resolutions. The median support level for all shareholder proposals is largely unchanged at 20.6 percent for 2024 (versus 20.8 percent for the same period in 2023), but the number of proposals receiving majority support is ticking up. Environmental proposals dropped in number to 130 from 147 proposals submitted in 2023, and the volume of social proposals was almost unchanged at 250. The support level, however, is up slightly for both environmental and social proposals, reversing the trend of declining support observed since 2021.

    “Trends observed thus far this proxy season suggest that support on pro-ESG shareholder proposals is starting to rise after a precipitous decline in support for such proposals last year,” notes Jun Frank, Managing Director at ISS-Corporate.

    “In our latest analysis, we see median support on environmental, social, and governance proposals increasing while the support on anti-ESG proposals remains low despite a surge in volume. Governance proposals in particular saw renewed interest from investors, with median support levels reaching 34.9 percent.”

    With the volume of shareholder proposals continuing to climb, there are plenty of proposals to be found on the ballot in 2024 with Amazon.com leading the way with eighteen to be voted on at its May 22 annual meeting. The Seattle-based technology giant is followed by Meta Platforms at twelve; JPMorgan Chase and Verizon Communications at eleven; Bank of America, Exxon Mobil, McDonald’s, Goldman Sachs, and Walt Disney at ten; and Chevron, Citigroup, PepsiCo, The Home Depot, and Wells Fargo at nine.

    Meanwhile, dissent over executive pay appears to be decreasing after reaching historic highs in 2022, with fewer companies receiving significant shareholder opposition than in recent years.

    An ISS-Corporate analysis of say-on-pay voting outcomes at [Russell 3,000] companies for meetings held between January 1 to May 16 finds just 35 instances, or 4.1 percent of the overall total, where voting support was less than 70 percent, a generally accepted key measure of significant investor dissent. By comparison, the figure during a similar period last year stood at 43 and 4.5 percent, respectively, and 72 and seven percent in 2022. Moreover, through May 16, ISS-Corporate is tracking just five failed say-on-pay votes compared with 15 in a similar period last year and 27 in 2022.

    “The trends we’re seeing thus far in 2024 suggest a continued tapering of scrutiny from shareholders that has, as our numbers show, been very pronounced in recent years,” said Frank. “It is also likely a reflection of pay programs returning to more of a pre-pandemic norm, with fewer cases of special grants and more rigorous application of objective performance measures.”

    ISS-Corporate is a leading provider of robust SaaS and expert advisory services to companies, globally. ISS-Corporate’s datadriven, research-backed Compass platform empowers businesses to understand and shape the signals they send to institutional investors, regulators, lenders, and other key stakeholders. By delivering essential data, tools, and advisory services, ISS-Corporate can help businesses around the world to be more resilient, align with market demands, and proactively manage governance, compensation, sustainability, and cyber risk initiatives. ISS Corporate Solutions, Inc. (“ISSCorporate”) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (“ISS”) and part of the ISS STOXX GmbH group of companies. ISS-Corporate provides advisory services, analytical tools and publications to companies to enable them to improve shareholder value and reduce risk through the adoption of improved corporate governance practices. The ISS STOXX Governance and ESG research teams, which are separate from ISS-Corporate, will not give preferential treatment to, and are under no obligation to support, any proxy proposal of a corporate issuer nor provide a favorable rating, assessment, and/or any other favorable results to a corporate issuer (whether or not that corporate issuer has purchased products or services from ISS Corporate). No statement from an employee of ISS-Corporate should be construed as a guarantee that ISS FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE STOXX will recommend that its clients vote in favor of any particular proxy proposal or provide a favorable rating, assessment or other favorable result. For more information, please visit https://www.iss-corporate.com

    ISS STOXX GmbH, through its group companies, is a leading provider of comprehensive and data-centric research and technology solutions that help capital market participants identify investment opportunities, detect qualitative and quantitative portfolio company risks, and meet evolving regulatory requirements. With roots dating back to 1985, we today deliver world-class benchmark and custom indices across asset classes and geographies and serve as a premier source of independent corporate governance, sustainability, cyber risk, and fund intelligence research, data, and related offerings. Our products and services give clients the scale and leverage they need to grow their business more effectively and efficiently. ISS STOXX, which is majority owned by Deutsche Börse Group, is comprised of more than 3,800 professionals operating across 30 global locations in 20 countries. Its approximately 5,500 clients include many of the world’s leading institutional investors who turn to ISS STOXX for its objective and varied offerings, as well as companies focused on ESG, cyber, and governance risk mitigation as a shareholder value enhancing measure. Clients rely on ISS STOXX’s expertise to help them make informed decisions to benefit their stakeholders.