Covered in cash, over 100% on reported earnings. A 2.11% yield — $1.05 a quarter, declared Jul. 28, 2026 — looks covered by cash flow (about 18.4% of cash flow per MarketBeat) but the reported-earnings payout is 126.1% per StockAnalysis, reflecting one-off and separation-affected earnings. That split is why this is a warn, not a good: the cash case is strong, the reported-earnings case is not.
Key risk: Separation and restructuring noise — the life-sciences separation and related charges are what distort reported earnings, and further charges could keep the reported payout above 100% even while cash covers the dividend.
Changes if: Cash-flow payout rises materially, or reported earnings stay depressed long enough that the board pauses increases — either would move this from warn toward bad.
- !Payout-coverage check: 126.1% of reported earnings (StockAnalysis) — above 100% — against only about 18.4% of cash flow (MarketBeat). The dividend is covered by cash, not by reported earnings, so the earnings series, not the payout, is what needs to normalise.
- ✓Yield check: 2.11% indicated — $1.05/qtr × 4 at the $198.91 close on Oct. 23, 2026. Real, earned yield, not a special or return of capital.
- ✓Dividend growth check: Dividend held at $1.05 through 2026 after the Dec. 2025 step to $1.05 from $1.04; StockAnalysis records 54 years of growth and MarketBeat 53 — the card claims a multi-decade growth record without pinning the exact year count.
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.