4 Companies Just Raised Their Dividends. Which Payout Has the Most Room to Grow?

A dividend increase is the clearest signal a board can send about the cash it expects to generate, and four NYSE-listed companies just sent one. Visa (NYSE:V | V Price Prediction), Entergy (NYSE:ETR), Tennant (NYSE:TNC) and Fortis (NYSE:FTS) all lifted their quarterly payouts in recent days. Visa led the group with a raise TheStreet put at 16%. If you are at or near retirement, what backs the raise matters more than the raise itself: earnings coverage, free cash flow, and a balance sheet that can sustain annual increases for years to come.

Visa: A Small Yield Attached to a Fast-Growing Paycheck

Visa’s board raised the quarterly dividend to $0.78 per Class A share from $0.67, an increase TheStreet estimated at 16%. At a recent price of $420.89, the stock yields 0.67%, the lowest yield in this group.

Visa covers its dividend better than any company here. Visa’s trailing dividend of $2.79 per share is small next to trailing diluted EPS of $12.32. In fiscal 2026, operating cash flow reached $23.728 billion while capital spending was just $1.671 billion. That left room to buy back about 61 million shares for $20.5 billion, and the company still holds $24.4 billion of remaining buyback authorization and $12.938 billion in cash. The dividend record shows annual increases from 2011 through 2026.

For retirees, this means growth. A sub-1% yield pays little up front, but a fast-rising payout can matter a lot over a long retirement. Visa’s quarterly payment has gone from $0.45 in 2023 to $0.52, $0.59, $0.67, and now $0.78. Behind those increases is a business that grew fiscal 2026 revenue 14.76% to $45.903 billion and net income 17.18% to $23.504 billion, with cross-border volume excluding intra-Europe up 14%. CEO Ryan McInerney summed it up: “Visa delivered a milestone year.” You pay for that quality, though: the stock trades at a forward P/E of about 28.

The catch: Visa is still dealing with interchange multidistrict litigation and steady regulatory pressure on payment fees. Either one could cut into the pricing power that pays for these raises.

Entergy: Data Center Demand Powers a Bigger Utility Check

Entergy raised its quarterly dividend 6.3% to $0.68 per share, according to TokenPost. The company’s dividend history confirms the prior payment was $0.64. At a recent price of $109.54, the stock yields 2.29% on its trailing payout.

Earnings cover the dividend comfortably. Entergy’s trailing dividend of $2.52 per share compares with trailing diluted EPS of $4.37, a healthy buffer for a regulated utility. Operating cash flow is climbing fast, rising 50% to $1.893 billion in the second quarter. Free cash flow is lower.

Second-quarter capital spending of $2.779 billion ran above operating cash flow as Entergy builds out to serve new load, so it completed a $2.175 billion common stock offering with a forward component to help cover the gap. It ended the second quarter with $3.854 billion in cash and $18.229 billion in shareholders’ equity. The dividend history shows annual increases from 2015 through 2024. After the stock split, the quarterly payment was $0.60 in 2025, then rose to $0.64 and, per TokenPost, now to $0.68.

What makes this compelling is the kind of growth you rarely get from a utility. Industrial sales volume rose 9.9% in the second quarter and 14.9% in the first, driven by data centers and primary metals. Entergy also signed a 20-year hyperscale electric service agreement in Louisiana and is pursuing rate actions in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas (the same power-and-cooling boost we identified across seven non-chip AI suppliers in a free report here). With its third-quarter report, management narrowed its full-year adjusted EPS guidance and raised the low end of the range (per the earnings call). A beta of 0.427 gives it the steadier price action income investors tend to want.

The main risk is financing. Heavy capital spending means more debt and more shares. Higher interest costs and dilution when the equity forwards settle could slow per-share earnings growth, and slower earnings growth would mean smaller raises down the road.

Tennant: A Raise That Leans on a Turnaround

Tennant raised its quarterly dividend 4.8% to $0.325 per share, according to TradingView. Its dividend history shows the previous payment was $0.31. The stock yields 1.84% on its trailing payout and recently traded at $73.58, up 7.06% on Tuesday after its third-quarter results.

Tennant has the weakest coverage of the four, and income investors should go in knowing that. Its trailing dividend of $1.225 per share is higher than trailing GAAP diluted EPS of $1.04. Adjusted results look better. Third-quarter adjusted EPS of $1.40 beat the $0.98 estimate, helped by a one-time $6.1 million tariff refund, and management reaffirmed full-year adjusted EPS guidance of $3.80 to $4.45. Cash flow is the weak spot. Third-quarter operating cash flow fell 58.5% to $11.9 million, and net leverage rose to 2.0x from 1.0x at the end of last year, after $60.5 million of buybacks in the first half. The dividend record is steady: the quarterly payout rose from $0.22 to $0.31, with annual increases from 2021 through 2026.

The appeal here is a low valuation plus a growth business. Shares trade at a forward P/E of about 12. Robotics revenue jumped 71% to about $37.3 million, orders rose 9.5%, and backlog stood near $118 million. Quarterly revenue grew 6.3% (matching Entergy’s raise, per TokenPost) to $322.3 million, missing expectations of $330.75 million.

The risk is execution. Problems with the ERP rollout have already hurt margins and contributed to a second-quarter earnings miss. If those problems drag on, cash flow could stay too tight to fund more raises without taking on more debt.

Fortis: Highest Yield in the Group, With Raises Mapped Out

Fortis declared a quarterly dividend of US$0.4759 per share, up about 4%. The company says this marks 53 consecutive years of increases. At a recent $60.02, the stock yields 4.36% on its trailing payout, the highest yield of these four.

The safety numbers hold up. Third-quarter net income rose 15.08% to $354.96 million, and adjusted EPS of $0.6584 beat the $0.6277 estimate. Operating cash flow climbed 26.68% to $931.0 million. Capital spending of $1.283 billion ran higher, which is typical for a regulated utility that funds rate base growth with operating cash, utility-level debt and equity from its dividend reinvestment plan. Fortis carries $58.48 billion in assets and $18.52 billion of equity, and a beta of 0.409 makes it the least volatile stock in the group.

The appeal for retired people is predictability. Management reaffirmed 4% to 6% annual dividend growth through 2031, backed by a new five-year capital plan of $32.2 billion, the largest in company history. That plan supports 7.5% rate base growth, including a US$1.0 billion transmission award at ITC and new data center load at Tucson Electric Power. CEO David Hutchens said Fortis is “well positioned to deliver sustained rate base growth and 4-6% annual dividend growth through 2031.”

The catch is regulation. A pending Tucson Electric Power rate case, a legal challenge to Arizona’s formula rate, and a FERC proposal to remove a 50bps transmission return adder could each trim earnings. Fortis estimates every 10bps change at ITC is worth about $0.015 of annual EPS.

Four Raises, Four Very Different Safety Profiles

Visa and Fortis back their rising payouts with deep coverage and long records, and Visa’s fast growth makes up for its small starting yield. Entergy adds growth from data center demand, paid for partly with outside capital. Tennant’s raise depends on a turnaround that has yet to show up in its cash flow. For retirement income, the most reliable raises are the ones the cash flow statement already supports.

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