Quarterly Dividend Research · Q3 2026
The State of Dividends — Q3 2026
Dividend raises outnumbered cuts 237 to 11 in Q3 2026, led by the big banks, and 12 companies paid their first regular dividend. 48% of 2,957 U.S. dividend payers trade below fair value, 471 are both undervalued and graded 75+ for dividend safety, and two-thirds of the quarter's cuts came from stocks already graded C or lower.
2,957
Payers analyzed
48%
Below fair value
471
Cheap and safe (safety 75+)
237:11
Raises to cuts
What's inside
The valuation landscape
How much of the dividend universe is cheap, fair, or expensive right now.
The cheap-and-safe matrix
The overlap of value and dividend safety — and the names that clear both bars.
Sector deep-dive
Yield, safety and the value spread across all 11 sectors.
Yield, safety & dividend actions
The yield distribution, safety grades, and the quarter's raises vs. cuts.
Key findings
- 237 raised a regular dividend and 11 cut one, 21.5 increases per cut; 12 companies initiated a dividend and 10 paid a special.
- The median increase was 8.1% and the median cut 50.0%.
- As of Oct 1, 2026, 48% of payers with a fair-value estimate trade below it, and 471 are both undervalued and graded 75 or higher for dividend safety.
- 67% of the period's cuts came from companies graded C or lower beforehand.
A preview: cheap & safe right now
 IMKTA | $84.82 → $129.09 | +52% |
 CTBI | $74.22 → $111.35 | +50% |
 NWFL | $33.04 → $54.71 | +66% |
 BOH | $68.92 → $107.71 | +56% |
 CAC | $55.35 → $88.28 | +60% |
 GLU | $17.74 → $26.36 | +49% |
Methodology: every payer is valued via DCF, a dividend-discount model and a Graham earnings multiple, then cross-checked against our Dividend Safety Score. For informational purposes only — not investment advice. Cite as: SmarterDividends, "The State of Dividends — Q3 2026," October 2026.
Get the full report — free
Enter your email to download the complete 6-page PDF (0.5 MB). You'll also get our weekly dividend value digest.
No spam. One email a week. Unsubscribe any time.
Why it's free
We publish the State of Dividends each quarter to share what our models see across the whole market. Subscribe once and you'll get every future issue plus our weekly digest.