Five companies quietly raised their dividends in 2026, but a record cash year, a debt-free balance sheet, and a 19-year streak of increases tell very different stories about which payouts can survive the next economic shock.
Yield is the easy part. What lets income investors sleep at night is a dividend that rises every year, no matter what the economy does, and all five companies here raised their regular quarterly payout in 2026. The increases ran from a step to $0.76 per share at Southern Company (NYSE:SO | SO Price Prediction) up to an 8.8% boost at Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM). Two of them, Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) and Southern, go ex-dividend in mid-November, on November 13 and November 16. Each pick below is graded on coverage, investments.” Trailing dividends of $5.14 equal about 52% of trailing EPS of $9.96. The quarterly payout rose every year from $0.90 in 2020 to $1.30 in 2026, and the record also includes a $3 special dividend in 2021.
Bull case: Assets under management hit a record $1.89 trillion, and about two-thirds of client assets are retirement money, which tends to stay put. The ETF business took in $4.4 billion of net inflows in the second quarter. Shares trade at 10x forward earnings.
Risk: Outflows are still running. Clients pulled a net $6.5 billion in the second quarter after $13.7 billion in the first, and CEO Rob Sharps warned that “net flows in the second half of the year [will be] meaningfully more challenging than the first half.” The stock is still down 36.2% over five years.
Five Raises in 2026, Five Different Engines
These five names pay for their dividends with different sources: tobacco pricing power, insurance and asset-management fees, regulated utility rate bases, and a debt-free fund manager. Each raised its regular payout this year. Prudential and T. Rowe Price offer the most coverage per dollar of yield. Philip Morris brings the fastest dividend growth, and Duke Energy and Southern provide steady, rate-backed income heading into their November ex-dividend dates. Build a few of these into a ladder, and the checks can cover the bills without ever selling a share, which is exactly the setup we walked through in a free dividend ladder guide.
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Chris Lange is a financial and geopolitical writer with more than a decade of experience covering a myriad of topics. He has published thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St., with past coverage focused heavily on stocks, IPOs, healthcare, defense, global affairs, and technology.
His work has been quoted, or referenced by a number of outlets including Business Insider, USA Today, Yahoo Finance, MSN, The Motley Fool, and many other publications. A graduate of Southwestern University, he studied business with a focus on investments and has previous experience in banking and startups.
When not reading or writing the news, he is following his passion for Lacrosse, playing chess, or building solar projects with his dad.
