Hi everyone!
Earnings season for the Dividend Universe wrapped up a week later than normal.
Some news: Cintas continued its 43-year streak with a 15.6% raise in late July. Union Pacific added to their nineteen-year streak with a 3 percent raise, and Fastenal added a second increase this year.
And finally, JP Morgan added a 10 percent raise this quarter.
Overall scorecard, zero cuts and 21 raises so far in 2026, with 8 more due by December.
We did have some news regarding LVMH, which we will cover in a moment.
Today’s income report closes the books on the quarter with grades and history to judge against, along with how much the machine paid you.
What the Income Machine Paid you in Q2
Generating income either for our retirement (sitting on a beach hopefully) or grow our nest egg is the whole point of this adventure.
Let’s run a few numbers to illustrate the point. Spread $30,000 evenly across the Universe, $1,000 per name. Set that against today’s yields and you earn $704 a year, or about $174 last quarter. All while doing nothing.
Not bad.
Keep in mind that this amount is the floor, and it keeps rising as dividends or yields improve.
Here’s the score:
21 out of 30 names announced raises so far in 2026
Median raise: 9.6%, average raise: 8.6%
8 more due by the end of December
Zero cuts
One freeze
If we work through the quarter and name-drop a bit. Johnson & Johnson announced their 64th consecutive raise. Taiwan Semiconductor bumped their payment 16.7%, plus they will pay it in US dollars going forward. June brought Casey’s announcing a 14% increase, and JP Morgan a 10% increase, along with a $50 billion buyback added for good measure. July gave us five more dividend raises from Enterprise, Fastenal, Duke, Union Pacific, and Cintas.
All great stuff, and income increased while letting the companies do what they do best: grow revenue and profits, then pay us.
Let’s put that $704 a year in perspective, because it might not sound like a lot at first.
If the 9.6% median pace holds, that’s $771 next year and about $1,113 in five, on the same $30,000, without you adding a dollar. Your yield on what you paid goes from 2.3% to 3.7%. Not too shabby.
In this issue
Raise Scorecard: Every company’s 2026 raise measured against their 5-year history, along with any increases or decreases
One freeze announcement and how we handle the news
Final quarter grades for each of our 30 companies in the Dividend Universe
Update on the 8 dividend raises expected by end of December, and one September announcement we are awaiting
Three dates to put on your calendar
Income Machine Track Record
How have the last two issues held up?
Two issues in, it’s fair to ask, how are we doing?
Here is the report grading itself so far.
Dividend safety: zero cuts across the Universe
Five new names added, one removed
One miss, and I dig into why below
Median dividend raises: 9.6%
The Universe yields 2.3% today. The median raise this year was 9.6%.
Those two numbers make up the entire strategy. A 5% yield growing at 2% loses to a 2.3% yield growing at 9.6%, and the crossover is closer than most people expect.
That’s the paycheck, free. What the Universe paid you last quarter, who raised, and how the first two issues have held up.
Paid members, the rest is yours. Keep scrolling.
Here’s what the paycheck doesn’t tell you.
Cintas raised 15.6% in late July and I cheered it right along with you. Then I went and looked at the other 42 years. Whether 15.6% is actually good for Cintas depends entirely on that, and it’s the first line of the scoreboard below.
A raise is the most honest signal a company sends you. Reading it means measuring it against that company’s own record, not against how big the number feels.
I did that for all 21 of them. Some of what turned up:
S&P Global raised 1.04% in January and kept its Dividend King crown doing it. Fifty-three years of increases, and this one came in at a rounding error.
Every 2026 raise measured against that company’s own five-year pace, with my verdict on each one
Final grades for all thirty. Four A’s and one C. The C is the one I’d read first.
The freeze I missed, and whether the name stays in the Universe
Seven days free if you want to read all of it.
After that it’s $369 a year or $35 a month, with a 30-day money-back guarantee either way.
Eight more raises are coming before December. I’ll grade every one of them the same way.
Want to see the depth first? Here is a full deep dive, free: Johnson & Johnson: A Dividend Machine