Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is the world’s second-largest investment bank by revenue and is ranked 55th on the Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations by total revenue. The Wall Street white-glove giant offers financing, advisory services, risk distribution, and hedging for the firm’s institutional and corporate clients. In addition, it produces some of Wall Street’s most coveted research and serves as a bellwether for the financial industry. With the stock market hitting record highs seemingly every week, we were curious which sectors the investment giant feels will raise dividends the most in 2026. The firm noted this is a recent research report:
We forecast 6% growth in S&P 500 dividends in 2026. Through the first three quarters of the year, S&P 500 dividends per share, or DPS, grew by 7% year over year. We model dividend growth as a function of earnings growth in the same year and in each of the two years prior. Consensus forecasts a 5% increase in S&P 500 DPS in 2026, led by Health Care, Utilities, and Industrials. The futures market pricing of dividends remains too pessimistic.
With the analysts at Goldman Sachs expecting healthcare, utilities, and industrial stocks to lead the S&P 500 in dividend increases, we decided to screen Goldman Sachs research for top companies in those three sectors that the firm feels are poised for growth in 2026 and will continue to pay and raise their already significant and reliable dividends. Five top companies that Goldman Sachs has rated Buy are outstanding values now. All reside in the sectors that could raise dividends the most next year.
Why we recommend Goldman Sachs stocks
Goldman Sachs is the acknowledged leader in the investment landscape on Wall Street and worldwide. The firm’s top-notch research department continues to provide institutional and high-net-worth clients with the best ideas across the investment spectrum. It is likely to continue doing so for years.
Utilities
American Electric Power
This is one of the largest electric utility companies in the United States, serving more than 5 million customers across 11 states. This industry-leading utility pays investors a hefty, reliable 3.12% dividend. American Electric Power Co. Inc. (NYSE: AEP) is an electric public utility holding company that generates, transmits, and distributes electricity for sale to retail and wholesale customers in the United States.
It operates through these segments:
- Vertically Integrated Utilities
- Transmission and Distribution Utilities
- AEP Transmission Holdco
- Generation & Marketing
The company generates electricity using:
- Coal
- Lignite
- Natural gas
- Renewable energy
- Nuclear energy
- Hydro
- Solar energy
- Wind
- And other energy sources
It also supplies and markets electric power wholesale to other electric utility companies, rural electric cooperatives, municipalities, and other market participants.
Goldman Sachs has $128 target price.
Eversource Energy
This energy provider serves customers in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire, and it has a 23-year track record of consecutive dividend increases. This conservative utility stock idea is off the radar and pays a rich 4.11% dividend. Eversource Energy (NYSE: ES) is a public utility holding company that engages in the energy delivery business.
The company operates through four segments:
- Electric Distribution
- Electric Transmission
- Natural Gas Distribution
- Water Distribution
It is involved in the transmission and distribution of electricity, solar power facilities, and the distribution of natural gas.
The company operates regulated water utilities that provide water services to approximately 241,000 customers. It serves residential, commercial, industrial, municipal, and fire protection, and other customers in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire.
The Goldman Sachs target price for the stock is $79.
Healthcare
Johnson & Johnson
Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) is a multinational American corporation specializing in pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, and medical devices. With shares trading at 14.5 times forward earnings and paying a 2.81% dividend, this diversified healthcare giant is a strong buy at current prices.
Johnson & Johnson is among the most conservative of the major pharmaceutical companies, with a diverse product portfolio and a familiar, solid brand. The company researches, develops, manufactures, and sells a range of healthcare products. Its primary focus is on products related to human health and well-being. And it operates through two segments.
The Innovative Medicine segment is focused on various therapeutic areas, including:
- Immunology
- Infectious diseases
- Neuroscience
- Oncology
- Pulmonary hypertension
- Cardiovascular and metabolic diseases
Products in this segment are distributed directly to retailers, wholesalers, distributors, hospitals, and healthcare professionals for prescription use.
The MedTech segment encompasses a diverse portfolio of products used in orthopedics, surgery, interventional solutions, cardiovascular intervention, and vision care. It also offers a commercially available intravascular lithotripsy platform for the treatment of coronary artery disease and peripheral artery disease.
Goldman Sachs has a $213 price objective.
Merck
Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE: MRK) develops and produces medicines, vaccines, biological therapies, and animal health products. It is not just a healthcare company but a global force in the industry. This healthcare giant is a no-brainer, down over 30% over the past year while paying a solid 3.61% dividend.
The company operates through two segments. The Pharmaceutical segment offers human health pharmaceutical products in:
- Oncology
- Hospital acute care
- Immunology
- Neuroscience
- Virology
- Cardiovascular
- Diabetes
- Vaccine products, such as preventive pediatric, adolescent, and adult vaccines
The Animal Health segment discovers, develops, manufactures, and markets veterinary pharmaceuticals, vaccines, health management solutions and services, as well as digitally connected identification, traceability, and monitoring products.
Merck serves:
- Drug wholesalers
- Retailers
- Hospitals
- Government agencies
- Managed healthcare providers, such as health maintenance organizations
- Pharmacy benefit managers and other institutions
- Physicians
- Physician distributors
- Veterinarians
- Animal producers
Merck’s growth is a result of its efforts and strategic collaborations. The company works with AstraZeneca, Bayer, Eisai, Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, and Gilead Sciences to jointly develop and commercialize long-acting treatments for HIV, demonstrating a commitment to innovation and growth.
Goldman Sachs has a $93 target price.
Industrials
L3Harris Technologies
This is an excellent industrial/defense stock to own now, and also pays shareholders a reliable 1.66% dividend. L3Harris Technologies Inc. (NYSE: LHX) provides end-to-end technology solutions connecting the space, air, land, sea, and cyber domains in the interest of national security. Its segments include:
- Space & Airborne Systems (SAS)
- Integrated Mission Systems (IMS)
- Communication Systems (CS)
- Aerojet Rocketdyne (AR)
The SAS segment supplies complete mission solutions as a prime and subsystem integrator in the space, airborne, and cyber domains.
The company’s IMS segment delivers differentiated mission capabilities and prime systems integration to support:
- Intelligence
- Reconnaissance
- Surveillance
- Passive sensing and targeting
- Electronic attack
- Autonomy
- Power and communications
- Networks and sensors
CS enables warfighters across all domains with solutions critical to mission success, even in contested environments.
The AR segment provides propulsion, power, and armament products and systems.
The Goldman Sachs target is set at $327.
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