Covered, with a buyout clock running. A 4.69% yield on a roughly 27% trailing payout is covered income: $0.17595 a quarter, held flat through 2026 after a 2% raise in late 2024, at the $15.00 close on October 23, 2026. Second-quarter 2026 GAAP EPS was $0.60 on $3.42 billion of revenue, beating the $0.45 consensus, and the dividend has grown for 12 consecutive years. Read the price before the yield, though: $15.00 is exactly the agreed cash price in the pending buyout by a Global Infrastructure Partners–led consortium with EQT, approved by shareholders on June 26, 2026, and targeted to close in late 2026 or early 2027. Until it closes, the dividend pays; when it closes, the shares convert to $15.00 cash and the dividend ends.
Key risk: The pending buyout — closing still needs remaining regulatory approvals, and lawmakers asked FERC in September 2026 to reject the $33.4 billion deal over ratepayer and data-center cross-subsidization concerns; if the deal fails, the price anchor at $15.00 goes with it. The dividend itself is the smaller risk: it takes only about a quarter of earnings.
Changes if: The buyout closes or is blocked, or the payout pushes well past ~35% of earnings. On trailing earnings the dividend is covered today — but this card’s life ends at the closing date, and it should be retired then, not re-graded.
- ✓Payout-coverage check: About 27% of trailing earnings — $0.7038 indicated against trailing EPS near $2.63 — and about 35% of current-year estimates. Covered, with roughly two-thirds of earnings behind the dividend.
- !Dividend growth check: 12 consecutive years of increases, but the rate has been flat at $0.17595 since the late-2024 raise from $0.1725: growth in the record, not in the recent payout. The pending buyout, not the board, now sets the dividend’s horizon.
- !Buyout check: Pending, not closed: $15.00 a share in cash ($33.4 billion including debt), agreed March 1, 2026, shareholder-approved June 26, 2026, targeted to close late 2026 or early 2027 subject to remaining approvals. The $15.00 close on October 23, 2026 sits exactly on the deal price — the market is pricing completion, not the dividend.
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.