Covered, compounding reliability. A 2.02% yield on a 32.6% adjusted payout is covered income with room to spare: $0.61 a quarter, raised in November 2025 for the 44th consecutive year. The growth was 5.2% on the last raise, and the payout still leaves about two-thirds of adjusted earnings behind it.
Key risk: Japan concentration — roughly 70% of pretax earnings come from Aflac Japan, so yen weakness and Japanese claims trends move the earnings base behind the dividend more than the U.S. business does.
Changes if: Adjusted EPS falls toward the dividend — at 32.6% of FY2025 adjusted earnings the cushion is wide, so it would take a sustained earnings drop, not a single soft quarter, to change that read.
- ✓Payout-coverage check: 32.6% on an adjusted basis — $2.44 indicated against $7.49 of FY2025 adjusted diluted EPS. Covered, with about two-thirds of adjusted earnings retained.
- ✓Yield check: 2.02% indicated — $0.61/qtr × 4 at the $120.51 close on Oct. 23, 2026. Real, earned yield for a single stock, not a special or a return of capital.
- ✓Dividend growth check: 44 consecutive years of increases; the latest raise, declared Nov. 11, 2025, lifted the quarterly dividend 5.2%, from $0.58 to $0.61.
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.