Covered, inside its payout target. A 3.0% yield on a roughly 61% payout against the $6.40 midpoint of raised 2026 operating EPS guidance is covered income inside the company's 50%–70% target payout range on operating earnings: $0.97 a quarter, raised in October 2026 by $0.02 for a 15th consecutive year, with quarterly dividends paid uninterrupted since July 1910. The raise is small — 2.1% — but the coverage is the point.
Key risk: Capital scale — a $78 billion 2026–2030 investment plan for transmission, distribution and generation, funded with debt and equity while second-quarter 2026 GAAP profit fell from a year earlier; the dividend is covered on operating earnings, and operating earnings have to keep delivering.
Changes if: Operating earnings fall short of the raised $6.25–$6.55 guidance range, pushing the payout above the 50%–70% target band, or the capital program forces funding on terms that squeeze the coverage.
- ✓Payout-coverage check: About 61% of guided operating earnings — $3.88 indicated against the $6.40 midpoint of raised 2026 operating EPS guidance of $6.25–$6.55, inside the 50%–70% target range. Covered, with room retained.
- ✓Yield check: 3.0% indicated — $0.97/qtr × 4 at the $129.69 close on Oct. 23, 2026. Real, earned yield from regulated operations, not a special or a return of capital.
- ✓Dividend growth check: 15 consecutive years of increases; the Oct. 20, 2026 declaration lifted the quarterly dividend 2.1%, from $0.95 to $0.97, with a five-year dividend growth average of about 5.7% a year.
What this grade doesn't say: It screens the dividend only — covered, real, compounding. It says nothing about valuation or price: a well-covered payer can still be overpriced, and its price can still fall.