Financial Services Delivered 13 of October's 40 Dividend Raises

SmarterDividends data for October 2026 recorded 40 dividend raises, led by 13 in Financial Services, and the median increase was 7.1%. The same month produced 1 cut, 2 initiations and 0 special dividends.

October's total was below the 88 raises recorded in September 2026, but the median barely moved from 7.3%. The lower count reflects the quarterly payment calendar more than a broad retreat in dividend growth.

Financial services supplied both volume and size

Financial Services combined the most raises with a 10.0% median increase. Northpointe Bancshares (NPB) led the sector with a 20.0% raise.

Industrials ranked next by count, with 6 raises and a 6.4% median. Argan (AGX) lifted its payment 40.0%, the largest increase among the sector leaders. Technology followed with 5 raises and a 7.0% median, led by Intuit (INTU) at 15.0%.

Healthcare and Energy each had only 2 raises, but their medians reached 12.4% and 19.2%. Real Estate produced 5 raises with a 2.6% median, while Utilities recorded 2 raises with a 1.2% median.

Across the market, 13 raises reached 10% or more, while 10 came in under 3%. October therefore contained a substantial group of double-digit increases alongside a separate cluster of token raises. All 40 company records appear in Every dividend increase in October 2026 (full list).

The payment calendar explains the low count

October's 40 raises look sparse beside September's 88, but July 2026 produced only 35. August then delivered 104 before the count fell to 88 in September.

The median raise did not move with those swings in volume. It was 8.0% in July, 8.5% in August, 7.3% in September and 7.1% in October. October had fewer companies reaching a higher payment, but the typical increase remained close to the prior month.

Dividend payment records show the seasonal reason. October 2026 had 1,372 payment records, compared with 2,145 in September 2026. The pattern also appeared in the prior year, when October 2025 had 1,266 payment records after 1,885 in September 2025.

Most U.S. companies pay quarterly on one of three cycles. The January, April, July and October cycle is the smallest, so those months consistently have fewer ex-dividend dates and fewer raises taking effect. October's count fits that cycle, just as July's 35 raises did.

Large raisers mostly carried stronger safety grades

Among companies with market caps over $2 billion, Argan had the largest increase. Its payment rose 40.0%, from $0.50 to $0.70, and it held an A safety grade at the time. Its dividend growth streak reached 3 years.

Intuit raised its payment 15.0%, from $1.20 to $1.38, with an A grade and a 14-year streak. GE HealthCare Technologies increased its payment 14.3%, from $0.035 to $0.04, with a B grade and a 1-year streak.

The Financial Services leaders reinforced the sector result. Citizens Financial Group (CFG) raised 13.0% to $0.52, American Financial Group (AFG) raised 10.2% to $0.97, JPMorgan Chase (JPM) raised 10.0% to $1.65 and State Street (STT) raised 9.5% to $0.92. Each carried an A safety grade at the time.

Across all October raisers, 24 had A grades. Another 4 had B grades, 7 had C grades, 1 had a D grade and 4 were not graded. Danaos (DAC) and Encompass Health (EHC) show why the distribution was not uniformly strong: Danaos raised 11.1% with a C grade, while Encompass raised 10.5% with a C grade.

Long records did not always produce large increases. RPM International extended a streak of at least 38 years with a 5.6% raise. Bank OZK (OZK) reached 27 years with a 2.1% raise, Brady (BRC) reached 33 years with a 2.0% raise, and A. O. Smith (AOS) reached 33 years with a 5.6% raise.

Campbell's was the lone cut

Campbell's (CPB) cut its dividend 35.9%, the only reduction recorded in October 2026. The company had a B safety grade before the cut and a market cap of $7.0 billion.

The number of cuts fell from 3 in September 2026 to 1 in October, even as the raise count declined from 88 to 40. Campbell's also shows that a grade above the bottom tiers did not rule out a substantial reduction.

How we did this

We compare each new regular dividend with the one before it for every U.S.-listed dividend stock, and count the change in the month the new payment goes ex-dividend. Safety grades from A to F are SmarterDividends scores at the time of the raise. Our payment records begin in 1987, so growth streaks of roughly 38 years or more are floors. Raises of 100% or more are excluded as likely payment-schedule changes.