Covered, compounding. A 1.00% yield on a 38.11% trailing payout is covered with room to spare: $1.21 a quarter, raised in November 2025 from $1.09 — an 11% raise — extending 14 years of annual increases. The yield is thin for an income card, but the payout leaves most earnings retained, so the compounding record, not the current yield, is the point here.
Key risk: Government-budget dependence — mission-critical communications and video security sell heavily to public-safety agencies, so delayed budgets or a procurement slowdown hit orders before it hits the dividend.
Changes if: The trailing payout pushes past 60%, or the annual raise stops. Either would break the compounding case this card rests on.
- ✓Payout-coverage check: 38.11% trailing payout ratio — covered, with nearly two-thirds of earnings retained.
- ✓Yield check: 1.00% indicated — $1.21/qtr × 4 at the $481.83 close on Oct. 23, 2026. Real, earned yield, not a special or a return of capital.
- ✓Dividend growth check: 14 years of increases; the latest raise lifted the quarterly dividend from $1.09 to $1.21 in November 2025.
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.