Covered, long-run reliability. A 1.4% yield on a 48.6% payout is covered income: $0.555 a quarter, with a dividend-increase streak running 68 consecutive years — among the longest in the market. Growth has been slow in recent years, averaging about 1% a year over five years, but it has not stopped.
Key risk: Automation cycles and tariffs — industrial automation demand moves with capital spending, and tariff and input costs have pressed margins even as the dividend streak continued.
Changes if: The payout moves well past 48.6% on a sustained basis, or the 68-year increase streak is paused.
- ✓Payout-coverage check: 48.6% on a trailing basis — $2.22 indicated against trailing earnings. Covered, with about half of earnings retained.
- ✓Yield check: 1.4% indicated — $0.555/qtr × 4 at the $161.59 close on Oct. 23, 2026. Real, earned yield for a single stock, not a special or a return of capital.
- ✓Dividend growth check: 68 consecutive years of increases; trailing-twelve-month dividends of $2.22 are up 5.2% on the prior year. Slow long-run 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.