Covered, compounding — through the ag trough. A 1.00% yield on a 36.03% trailing payout is comfortably covered: $1.62 a quarter, held since the September 2024 raise from $1.47, after five straight years of increases. Earnings are in a trough year as the farm cycle cools, but the payout takes only about a third of earnings, leaving room to hold the rate through it.
Key risk: The farm cycle — equipment demand, farm incomes, and tariffs all cut the same way in a downturn, and Q3 2026 strength does not by itself end a trough year for sales and earnings.
Changes if: The trailing payout pushes well past 36.03% as earnings fall, or the dividend is cut after holding at $1.62 since 2024. Coverage through the trough is the tripwire here.
- ✓Payout-coverage check: 36.03% of trailing earnings — $6.48 indicated against a $646.15 close on Oct. 23, 2026. Comfortably covered even in a trough earnings year.
- ✓Yield check: 1.00% indicated — $1.62/qtr × 4 at the $646.15 close on Oct. 23, 2026. Real, earned yield for a single stock, not a special or a return of capital.
- !Dividend growth check: Five consecutive years of increases through the September 2024 raise (from $1.47 to $1.62), but no raise since — the quarterly rate has held at $1.62 through 2026 while earnings cooled.
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.