The 3 Best Dividend Aristocrats for 2026: The Halftime Scorecard

By Trey Thoelcke Published Jul 1, 8:10AM EDT

Quick Read

Nordson (NDSN) surged 25% and Aflac (AFL) gained 6% year to date, both outpacing the S&P 500 while raising dividends in 2026.
Lowe's dropped 9% on macro housing headwinds despite six straight earnings beats and a fresh dividend raise to $1.25 quarterly.
Act now: the analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 AI stocks — and Lowe's didn't make the cut. Grab the names FREE today.

The 3 Best Dividend Aristocrats for 2026: The Halftime Scorecard — © 24/7 Wall St.

On January 1, 2026, we published The 3 Best Dividend Aristocrats to Buy in 2026, naming Aflac (NYSE: AFL | AFL Price Prediction), Lowe’s (NYSE: LOW), and Nordson (NASDAQ: NDSN) as the three most compelling names on the Aristocrat roster. Six months later, the scorecard shows two winners and one clear laggard. The S&P 500 has returned 9.5% year to date, providing a firm benchmark. One pick has crushed it, one has kept pace on total return, and one has pulled back hard. The Aristocrat thesis, however, holds across all three: each has raised its payout again in 2026, proving that the income compounding continues even when price action does not.

Here are the halftime scores, counting down from poorest performer to best.

3. Lowe’s

Lowe’s earned the original nod on the strength of its home-improvement scale, its Total Home strategy, and a more than 60-year streak of dividend raises that qualifies it as a Dividend King. That thesis has run into a wall of housing softness. Shares closed at $220.49 on June 30, 2026, down 8.6% year to date. The dividend, however, keeps climbing. Lowe’s raised the quarterly payout from $1.20 to $1.25 with the July 22, 2026, ex-date, pushing the run rate to $4.80 per share annually for a 2.3% yield.

Operationally, the business has executed. Lowe’s beat consensus estimates in each of the past six quarters, including adjusted EPS of $3.03 versus a $2.97 estimate for the quarter reported May 20, 2026, on revenue of $23.08 billion, up 10.3% year over year. Comps have now been positive for four consecutive quarters. The stock is being punished by macro concerns, not on execution, and analysts have a $263.73 average price target. Lowe’s earns its spot from here as a rate-sensitive rebound candidate whose dividend keeps compounding while investors wait.

2. Aflac

Aflac was the income anchor of the original three: steady supplemental-insurance cash flows in Japan and the United States, a fortress balance sheet, and 43 consecutive years of dividend increases. That anchor has held. Shares closed most recently at $117.25, up 6.3% since the start of the year, not far off the benchmark. Late last year, the board raised the quarterly payout 5.2% to $0.61, delivering a 2.1% current yield.

The earnings scorecard is mixed. Q1 2026 adjusted EPS came in at $1.75, missing the $1.80 estimate, though revenue of $4.35 billion beat and rose 25.9% year over year. Yen weakness cost $0.02 of EPS at a 156.87 average rate, but Japan pretax margin expanded to 35.0% from 31.8% and buybacks retired 5.9% of the share count. At a 14x forward multiple with a 0.61 beta, Aflac remains a low-volatility income holding. It keeps its spot.

1. Nordson

Nordson was the clear growth leader among the three picks, chosen for its precision-dispensing niche, the Ascend Strategy, and semiconductor exposure. It has delivered. Shares closed at $301.69 on June 30, up 25.5% year to date, more than doubling the S&P 500 return. The quarterly dividend was raised to $0.82 from $0.78, extending a 25-plus-year Aristocrat streak.

The Q2 fiscal 2026 report, delivered May 20, was a record: adjusted EPS of $2.86 on revenue of $740.85M, up 8.5% year over year, with 7% organic growth across all three segments and backlog up 18%. Advanced Technology Solutions grew 10.1%, aided by the semiconductor inflection and electronics dispense demand. Management raised full-year guidance to $2.93 billion to $3.01 billion in sales and $11.30 to $11.80 in adjusted EPS. CEO Sundaram Nagarajan called it “a strong first half of fiscal 2026, highlighted by record performance and ongoing momentum across our end markets.” At 26x forward earnings, the multiple has expanded, but with analysts targeting $319.12 and free cash flow conversion at 119%, Nordson still earns the top spot into the back half of the year.

The Halftime Verdict

The January call landed. Nordson is the clear winner, more than doubling the S&P 500’s advance on record operating results and raised guidance. Aflac kept pace and kept raising. Lowe’s is the one to defend, but its earnings still beat, its comps went positive for a fourth straight quarter, and its dividend just went up again. That is the Aristocrat promise in action: the income compounds through the cycle, and Nordson’s precision-dispensing story remains the sharpest offensive weapon in this three-stock portfolio heading into the second half.

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About the Author Trey Thoelcke →

Trey has been an editor and author at 24/7 Wall St. for more than a decade, where he has published thousands of articles analyzing corporate earnings, dividend stocks, short interest, insider buying, private equity, and market trends. His comprehensive coverage spans the full spectrum of financial markets, from blue-chip stalwarts to emerging growth companies.

Beyond 24/7 Wall St., Trey has created and edited financial content for Benzinga and AOL's BloggingStocks, contributing additional hundreds of articles to the investment community. He previously oversaw the 24/7 Climate Insights site, managing editorial operations and content strategy, and currently oversees and creates content for My Investing News.

Trey's editorial expertise extends across multiple publishing environments. He served as production editor at Dearborn Financial Publishing and development editor at Kaplan, where he helped shape financial education materials. Earlier in his career, he worked as a writer-producer at SVE. His freelance editing portfolio includes work for prestigious clients such as Sage Publications, Rand McNally, the Institute for Supply Management, the American Library Association, Eggplant Literary Productions, and Spiegel.

Outside of financial journalism, Trey writes fiction and has been an active member of the writing community for years, overseeing a long-running critique group and moderating workshop sessions at regional conventions. He lives with his family in an old house in the Midwest.