Today’s announcement by coffee-giant Starbucks (SBUX) that it would pay its first dividend should be taken as a shot of double espresso heard around the world by other cash-flush companies still hesitant to pour out dividends. 

Starbucks, which set its quarterly dividend of 10 cents per share to be paid on April 23 to shareholders of record at the close of business on April 7, is initially targeting a dividend payout range of 35-40% of net income. (Read the full story on the Starbucks dividend here)

So which cash-rich entities with a penchant for hoarding capital could follow suit? Well, in alphabetical order, they are: Amazon.com (AMZN), Apple (AAPL), Cisco (

CSCO), eBay (EBAY) and Google (GOOG).  All of these companies have big bucks on their balance sheets, and all are long overdue to give some of it back to shareholders.

How big are those bucks on the balance sheet of these stocks that could pay dividends if they wanted to? Well, Amazon and eBay have over $6 billion on hand, while Cisco and Google have about $25 billion each in cash.  Apple, however, is the one company that’s truly hoarding a massive amount of cash.  Steve Jobs and crew are flush with nearly $40 billion in cash and zero debt.

Now, with that kind of capital floating around, you’d think that at least some of it should be earmarked for shareholders, so why haven’t these cash hoarders opened up the purse strings yet?  Well, in the case of Apple and Steve Jobs, he’s consistently argued that he wants the cash on hand so as to be flexible when it comes to spending on research and new products.  In the wake of its popular Android operating system, GOOG will probably claim it needs to be tight-fisted when it comes to dividends, too. Same goes for Amazon and its runaway electronic reader the Kindle. But the fact of the matter is that even top companies that thrive on innovation — like Microsoft (MSFT) — can keep enough cash handy to develop the next big thing while still paying a dividend.

Of course, it’s tough to argue against Steve Jobs’ expert stewardship and Apple’s share price appreciation over the years. Who knows what the timetable for the iPad or the iPhone would have been if cash had been tied up in a dividend. But with most companies with a size similar to AAPL paying dividends, it’s tough to see why at least some of that cash can’t come back to shareholders. Same goes for Google, Amazon and the others.

Hopefully, the Starbucks announcement today will be a wake up call for some of the aforementioned companies here, as well as many other companies capable of paying out dividends as we head into the second quarter.  If even a few more companies let slip their dividend dogs of war, it could mean a nice boost to investors’ bottom lines.