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…
