Income investors have a narrow window to capture a wave of dividend payments locking in this month. Three large-cap names, led by Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX | SBUX Price Prediction), are going ex-dividend today, August 14, 2026, and two more are queued for the following two weeks. Starbucks alone will send roughly $707 million out the door on the coming pay date, a figure that reflects the size of the coffee giant’s shareholder base rather than a headline yield.
Quick mechanics: to receive an upcoming dividend, you must own the shares before the ex-dividend date. Once the ex-date arrives, buyers no longer capture that specific payment, though the stock typically opens lower by roughly the dividend amount.
Starbucks (SBUX)
Starbucks yields 2.29% on an annualized rate of $2.48. The upcoming quarterly payment of $0.62 per share hits accounts on August 28, 2026, and the ex-dividend date is today, August 14. That makes yesterday’s session the last chance to buy and still qualify for this distribution.
The coverage read is tighter than the yield suggests. Trailing GAAP EPS sits at $1.72, below the annualized dividend of $2.48, though management raised the FY26 non-GAAP EPS guide to $2.55 to $2.65, which puts the payout ratio in the mid-90% range on adjusted earnings. The stock trades at a rich 63 trailing PE and is up 30.51% year to date, so the yield is compressed. CEO Brian Niccol’s “Back to Starbucks” plan is delivering comp momentum, but the dividend needs FY26 guidance to hold.
Honeywell (HON)
Honeywell (NYSE:HON) is going ex-dividend today, August 14, 2026, with a payment of $0.70 per share on September 4. The yield reads 3.99% on an annualized $9.40 per share basis, though investors should note the current quarterly payment was reset lower from $1.19 after the June 29, 2026 Aerospace spin-off. That is a mechanical adjustment tied to the separation.
Coverage looks solid on the remaining business. Trailing EPS of $26.01 comfortably supports the reset quarterly rate, with the trailing PE at 9 and return on equity at 46.6%. Shares are up 15.56% year to date. For income accounts, the reduced payout still leaves ample cushion against reported earnings power.
Cintas (CTAS)
Cintas (NASDAQ:CTAS) is also ex-dividend today, August 14, 2026. The new quarterly payment of $0.52 per share, up from the prior $0.45 rate, will be paid September 15. Headline yield is a modest 0.88%, but the growth cadence is the story: base quarterly dividends have stepped up from roughly $0.39 in early 2025 to $0.52 today.
Trailing EPS of $4.90 against an annualized rate of $1.80 keeps the payout ratio well under half of earnings, with operating margin at 23.7% and return on equity at 40.7%. This is a low-yield, high-growth compounder rather than a high current-income play, and the valuation reflects it at 41 trailing earnings.
CDW Corp (CDW)
CDW (NASDAQ:CDW) is not ex-dividend today, but the deadline is close. Ex-date is August 25, 2026 for the $0.63 quarterly payment payable September 10, meaning buyers must own the stock before August 25 to qualify. The yield sits at 1.84%, backed by a 12-year streak of annual increases.
Coverage is not a concern. Trailing EPS of $8.65 against annualized dividends of $2.515 leaves the payout ratio near the high 20% range, and the forward PE of 11 looks reasonable given 10.0% revenue growth last quarter.
T-Mobile US (TMUS)
T-Mobile (NASDAQ:TMUS) is the last of the group, with an ex-date of August 28, 2026 for a $1.02 per share payment on September 10. Yield stands at 2.30% on an annualized $4.08 basis, and the quarterly rate has climbed from $0.65 in 2024 to $1.02 today.
Coverage is comfortable. Trailing EPS of $9.90 puts the payout ratio near 40%, and the balance sheet backs a large capital return program alongside 25.2% operating margins. Shares have lagged, down 25.53% over the past year, which is why the yield now screens higher than it has historically.
The Bottom Line
Chasing a single quarterly payment rarely works as a standalone strategy, since the price adjustment on the ex-date typically offsets the dividend in the short run. What matters for a retirement portfolio is whether the underlying payout is durable, and by that measure, Cintas, CDW, and T-Mobile screen with the cleanest coverage math, while Honeywell’s reset needs another quarter of clarity. If the goal is to capture the Starbucks, Honeywell, or Cintas distribution, the buy-by deadline has already passed at today’s open. For CDW and T-Mobile, the clock is still running.
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