Covered, but the cushion is thin. A 2.3% yield on an 83.7% trailing payout is still covered, but with little room left over: $0.53 a quarter, raised in March 2026 for a 63rd consecutive year of increases. The streak is long; the earnings cushion behind the current rate is the thinnest on this set of cards.
Key risk: A high payout leaves little slack — input-cost, tariff or volume pressure that trims earnings pushes the payout ratio higher before it threatens the dividend itself, and growth on the last raise was only 1.9%.
Changes if: Earnings slip so the payout moves past 100% on a trailing basis for more than a short stretch, or the company pauses the annual increase it has kept up for 63 years.
- !Payout-coverage check: 83.7% on a trailing basis — $2.12 indicated against trailing earnings. Covered, but with only about a sixth of earnings retained; any earnings dip lifts this ratio fast.
- ✓Yield check: 2.3% indicated — $0.53/qtr × 4 at the $94.04 close on Oct. 23, 2026. Real, earned yield for a single stock, not a special or a return of capital.
- ✓Dividend growth check: 63 consecutive years of increases; the latest raise, in Mar. 2026, lifted the quarterly dividend 1.9%, from $0.52 to $0.53. Slow growth, uninterrupted.
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.