Covered, compounding — at a fuller payout. A 3.53% yield on a 68.6% trailing payout is covered, but fuller than a low-payout payer: $1.165 a quarter, raised from $1.09 in December 2025, from a regulated Michigan electric and gas utility whose regulated earnings base supports the rate even though less is retained than a lower-payout payer keeps.
Key risk: Michigan regulation and capital spending — rate-case outcomes, grid-modernization costs, and storm recovery all run through the regulator, so allowed returns, not just demand, set the cash behind the dividend.
Changes if: The trailing payout pushes well past 68.6%, or a rate case cuts allowed returns. Regulated coverage, not just earnings coverage, is the tripwire here.
- !Payout-coverage check: 68.6% trailing payout — $4.66 indicated against trailing earnings. Covered, but fuller than a low-payout payer, so less is retained.
- ✓Yield check: 3.53% indicated — $1.165/qtr × 4 at the $131.89 close on Oct. 23, 2026. Real, earned cash dividend.
- ✓Dividend growth check: Raised $1.09 to $1.165 in December 2025, continuing a multi-year pattern of annual increases.
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.