National Fuel Gas Raises Dividend 3.7%, Extends 56-Year Streak

National Fuel Gas Company raised its quarterly dividend 3.7% to $0.555 per share from $0.535. The new rate equals $2.22 annually, and the next ex-dividend date is September 30, 2026.

Why the dividend changed

National Fuel did not identify a specific earnings, cash-flow or strategic trigger for the increase. Its declaration presented the decision as a continuation of a long-standing distribution policy, noting that the company has increased its annual dividend for 56 straight years and has paid dividends for 124 consecutive years. The company operates across integrated upstream and gathering, pipeline and storage, and regulated utility businesses. National Fuel’s dividend declaration supports the longer streak reported here.

The latest results show the cash-flow setting around the board’s decision. National Fuel generated $1.035 billion of operating cash flow and $280 million of free cash flow during the first nine months of fiscal 2026. Third-quarter adjusted earnings were $1.54 per share, compared with $1.64 a year earlier. Management revised fiscal 2026 adjusted earnings guidance to $7.40 to $7.60 per share, citing lower expected production, partly offset by lower unit costs in Integrated Upstream and Gathering. The fiscal third-quarter filing provides the results and guidance.

Management expects free cash flow over the next three years to support debt reduction, strategic investment and other opportunities to enhance shareholder returns. The company also issued $1.5 billion of notes to help finance its pending purchase of CenterPoint Energy’s Ohio natural-gas utility and refinance debt. These developments were not cited as reasons for the dividend increase, but they show that the board maintained its incremental approach while National Fuel funds a large transaction and additional capital spending.

Dividend track record

The latest increase follows a consistent pattern of modest annual raises. Total payments advanced from $1.77 per share in 2020 to $1.81 in 2021, $1.88 in 2022, $1.96 in 2023, $2.04 in 2024 and $2.12 in 2025. The 2025 total was up 3.9% from the prior year, while dividend growth has averaged 3.8% annually over five years.

Recent quarterly payments show that National Fuel generally resets the rate once a year. The company paid $0.515 per share on the September 30 and December 31, 2024, ex-dividend dates and again on March 31, 2025. The payment rose to $0.535 for the next four recorded quarters before reaching $0.555 on the June 30, 2026, ex-dividend date. That cadence favors gradual, repeatable increases over large changes tied to short-term energy prices.

The company’s 56-year record is longer than the 27-year growth sequence captured by the recent payment history. National Fuel’s own declaration governs the longer figure under the company-record exception.

Is the dividend covered?

The dividend uses 30% of earnings, leaving it dependent on only a minority of reported profit. That payout ratio provides room for fluctuations in natural-gas production, commodity prices, financing costs and capital spending without requiring the entire earnings stream to support distributions.

SmarterDividends rates the dividend A with a safety score of 97. That places it in the “very safe” range of 80-100. The grade reflects strong earnings coverage and the established payment record, although it does not remove the operating exposure associated with National Fuel’s upstream business or the financing demands of its expansion plans.

Yield and valuation

At a share price of $79.26, the $2.22 annual dividend produces a 2.82% forward yield. That is below the Energy sector median forward yield of 4.23%, so the shares provide less current dividend income than the sector benchmark despite the lengthy growth record. An investor holding 100 shares would receive $222.00 in annual dividend income at the new rate.

SmarterDividends estimates fair value at $66.73 and classifies the shares as overvalued, corresponding to 18% downside to fair value. The valuation assessment and below-sector yield indicate that the market price assigns value to more than the current cash distribution, including National Fuel’s integrated assets and planned business changes.

What to watch

The immediate dividend date is September 30, 2026, when the shares are scheduled to trade ex-dividend. Beyond that payment, the principal operational issue is National Fuel’s revised fiscal 2026 guidance, including expected Integrated Upstream and Gathering production of 420 to 430 Bcf and higher capital requirements for that segment.

The CenterPoint Ohio utility acquisition is expected to close on October 1, 2026. Management plans to issue detailed fiscal 2027 guidance after closing, making that update important for assessing the combined company’s earnings, debt reduction and capital-allocation capacity. National Fuel’s third-quarter filing outlines the timetable.

National Fuel is also evaluating a separation of its Integrated Upstream and Gathering operation from its regulated utility and pipeline assets. The board intends to complete that evaluation by October 15, 2026. If pursued, shareholders would own both businesses, and each would have separate capital-allocation and shareholder-return priorities. The company has not linked the review to this dividend increase, but the outcome could determine which entity carries the dividend policy in the future. The separation announcement describes the proposed structure.