Covered, compounding — a low payout with room to grow. A 1.28% yield on a 29.4% trailing payout is comfortably covered: $0.52 a quarter, stepped up from $0.48 at the start of 2026, with 12 years of increases behind it. The yield is thin for an income card — the exchange keeps most of its earnings — but the payout is real cash, not return of capital, and the coverage leaves room for the streak to continue.
Key risk: Trading-activity dependence — exchange and clearing revenue rises and falls with market volumes and listings, so a quiet market or a listings drought hits the top line even when the dividend itself is covered.
Changes if: The trailing payout pushes past about 50%, or the annual increase streak breaks. Either would mean the coverage cushion that justifies this card is gone.
- ✓Payout-coverage check: 29.4% of trailing earnings — the $2.08 indicated dividend is covered more than three times over by earnings.
- ✓Yield check: 1.28% indicated — $0.52/qtr × 4 at the $162.74 close on Oct. 23, 2026. Real, earned yield, though thin for an income-first card.
- ✓Dividend growth check: 12 years of increases; the latest step, from $0.48 to $0.52, was first paid at the new rate in March 2026.
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.