A new, fast-growing dividend from a travel giant — three years of raises, covered seven times over. The $0.42 quarterly dividend ($1.68 annualized, post-split) is 13.7% of fiscal 2025 free cash flow, and leverage is light on a net basis. Booking initiated the dividend in 2024 at $8.75 a quarter pre-split, raised it to $9.60 in 2025 and to $10.50 in February 2026 — $0.42 after the 25-for-1 forward split effective April 2, 2026, paid September 30, 2026. No cut, but only three years of record, which is flagged below. The 1.14% yield clears the §1 sub-1% line; the short record holds the grade at warn.
Key risk: Travel is cyclical — a recession or a travel shock hits bookings and earnings fast, and the dividend has no track record through a downturn.
Changes if: The dividend record extends past five years with continued raises.
- ✓FCF payout (§3) 13.7% of FY2025 free cash flow — inside the 60% pass band.
- !Dividend history (§3) Only three years of record (initiated 2024); raises every year, no cut — flagged, not held, as a fully evidenced short record.
- ✓Leverage (§3) 2.0× gross debt to EBITDA; ≈0.2× net — inside the 3× pass line.
- ✓Yield (§1) 1.14% — clears the sub-1% line.
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.