Covered, slow and steady. A 3.1% yield on a roughly 58% payout against the $6.10 midpoint of 2026 EPS guidance is covered income, not a stretch: $0.8875 a quarter, raised in January 2026 for the 52nd consecutive year — the longest streak of any utility in the S&P 500 — inside the company's own 55%–65% target payout range on adjusted earnings. Growth is slow — 4.4% on the last raise — and it has run for half a century.
Key risk: Capital funding — about $38 billion of capital investment planned through 2030, funded in part with equity: a 7-million-share offering in the first quarter of 2026 dilutes existing holders even as it funds the rate base the dividend depends on.
Changes if: Adjusted earnings fall short of the $6.00–$6.20 guidance range, pushing the payout above the 55%–65% target band, or the capital program requires equity issuance at a pace that outruns rate-base growth.
- ✓Payout-coverage check: About 58% of guided earnings — $3.55 indicated against the $6.10 midpoint of 2026 EPS guidance of $6.00–$6.20, inside the company's 55%–65% target payout range on adjusted earnings. Covered, with room retained.
- ✓Yield check: 3.1% indicated — $0.8875/qtr × 4 at the $115.74 close on Oct. 23, 2026. Real, earned yield from regulated New York utility operations, not a special or a return of capital.
- ✓Dividend growth check: 52 consecutive years of increases; the January 2026 raise lifted the quarterly dividend 4.4%, from $0.85 to $0.8875, an annualized increase of $0.15. 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.