8 Dividend Stocks We Like Right Now

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A detailed research report featuring our analysis of each company, why it made the list, and what makes it particularly interesting right now.

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8 companies from 6 different sectors, hand-picked by Dave and Max according to the strict quality standards of the MaxDividends Income System.

Accenture runs technology projects and outsourced operations for large companies and governments. It has 799,000 employees and buys very little equipment.

Here’s fiscal 2025, which ended August 31, 2025:

So why is the stock down 28% this year?

Bookings fell 3% in local currency last quarter, consulting revenue grew 1%, and on June 18 management trimmed full-year growth guidance to 3-4%. The stock had its worst day on record. The fear is that AI shrinks the consulting work Accenture sells.

I think that fear is overdone, but the bookings trend is real, and we need to watch it.

My Dividend Safety Score: 4.6 / 5 (Safe)

The dividend is the easy part. What we should watch is everything else competing for that cash: $11.5 billion of buybacks and dividends plus $9 billion of acquisitions in fiscal 2026, against $10.8-11.5 billion of guided free cash flow. Accenture borrowed $5 billion in July to cover the gap. If cash gets tight, the buybacks give first.

At the September 15 close of $193.40, Accenture trades at 14.4x the midpoint of its fiscal 2026 earnings guidance. Its five-year average P/E is 28.6x.

The reverse DCF tells us more. Using the $11.15 billion midpoint of free cash flow guidance, a 9% discount rate, and 3.5% terminal growth, the $118.3 billion market cap implies free cash flow shrinking 12.4% a year for seven years.

Does that sound like a business that grew free cash flow 7.4% a year over the last five?

Buy, Buy Below $227.35.

Same call I made in our September 3 Best Buys issue. October 1 is the date to circle: fourth-quarter results, the first fiscal 2027 guidance, and, if the pattern holds, the 21st raise.

For today’s analysis, I’m using the MaxDividends Income System inside the MaxDividends Research Platform - the same framework I use every week to evaluate every company before adding it to my portfolio.

Every company first has to prove it’s a great business before I even look at the dividend. The Business Quality Score is built around five core areas:

✅ ACN Business Quality Score: 97/99 — Very Safe

Accenture’s scores 97 out of 99, placing it firmly in the Very Safe category.

A great business doesn’t automatically make a great dividend stock. Our Dividend Safety Score combines four key factors:

✅ ACN Dividend Safety Score: 97/99 — Very Safe

Accenture’s scores 97/99, giving me confidence that today’s dividend remains well supported by the business.

That conclusion comes from two independent checks:

Together, they suggest the stock is trading at a meaningful discount rather than at a fair valuation or a premium.

✅ ACN - Undervalued.

Today, the MaxDividends Research Platform rates Accenture as Undervalued.

Beyond the platform scores, there are two filters I rarely compromise on.

Accenture has paid dividends for 20 years and has increased its dividend every single year since initiating it. That’s exactly the type of consistency I want in a long-term income portfolio.

MaxRatio is a proprietary MaxDividends metric designed to identify companies with strong long-term dividend income potential.

It combines:

Higher MaxRatio companies have historically shown the strongest combination of dividend growth and business quality.

Accenture comfortably meets that requirement.

Every company in the MaxDividends Research Platform falls into one of three categories:

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Microsoft is three businesses under one roof: Office and LinkedIn, the Azure cloud, and Windows, Xbox, and search.

Fiscal 2026 ended June 30:

Nearly half of every revenue dollar becomes operating profit. Hard to argue with that.

So where’s the catch? Capex.

Microsoft spent $115.9 billion on property and equipment last year, and $140.6 billion counting finance leases for data centers. Free cash flow fell 6.5% to $67.0 billion while net income rose 31%. Over five years, free cash flow grew 3.6% a year while capex grew 41% a year.

Then there’s OpenAI, $24.1 billion of last year’s revenue, which has been free to sell on any cloud since April 27.

My Dividend Safety Score: 4.9 / 5 (Safe)

Nobody should lose sleep over this dividend. The raise tells us something, though. At 7.7% it’s the smallest in at least seven years, and buybacks slowed to $3.4 billion a quarter in the second half, from $6.0 billion in the December quarter. Management is showing us where the cash is going: data centers.

Which number do we believe?

On earnings, Microsoft looks reasonable: 27.7x against a five-year average of 31.2x. On cash, it’s pricier: 55.1x free cash flow against a 42.0x average.

The reverse DCF at a 9% discount rate says today’s $497.12 price needs 18.3% free cash flow growth every year for a decade. Can we count on that? It hasn’t happened in the last five years. I have faith Satya will get it done.

Trading at fair value, Buy Below $473.52.

A wonderful business; the price already assumes the AI spending pays off. I’m watching whether free cash flow turns up as capex keeps climbing.

For today’s analysis, I’m using the MaxDividends Income System inside the MaxDividends Research Platform - the same framework I use every week to evaluate every company before adding it to my portfolio.

Every company first has to prove it’s a great business before I even look at the dividend. The Business Quality Score is built around five core areas:

✅ MSFT Business Quality Score: 97/99 — Very Safe

Accenture’s scores 97 out of 99, placing it firmly in the Very Safe category.

A great business doesn’t automatically make a great dividend stock. Our Dividend Safety Score combines four key factors:

✅ MSFT Dividend Safety Score: 97/99 — Very Safe

Microsoft’s scores 97/99, giving me confidence that today’s dividend remains well supported by the business.

That conclusion comes from two independent checks:

Together, they suggest the stock is trading around fair value rather than at a meaningful premium or discount.

✅ MSFT - Fairly Valued.

Today, the MaxDividends Research Platform rates Microsoft as Fairly Valued.

With 20 consecutive years of annual dividend increases, Microsoft has earned its place among the Top Dividend Eagles.

Every company in the MaxDividends Research Platform falls into one of three categories:

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H.B. Fuller makes adhesives: the glue in diapers, food packaging, car parts, electronics, and roofing. It calls itself the world’s largest pure-play adhesives company.

Fiscal 2025 ended November 29, 2025:

Gross margin rose from 28.7% in 2023 to 32.0% over the last twelve months. Volume fell 3.5% in the first half, so what growth there was came from price increases.

Free cash flow worries me more. It went from $244.3 million in 2020 to $121.2 million in 2025.

Then on June 25, three months after saying it would pause deals, H.B. Fuller agreed to buy UK-based Advanced Medical Solutions at a £715 million enterprise value, funded with bridge loans. That surprised me, and activist investor Ancora has opposed it.

My Dividend Safety Score: 3.8 / 5 (Healthy)

The debt is what we watch. Operating profit covers interest 2.8 times, and the raises keep shrinking: 8.5% in 2024, 5.6% in 2025, 4.3% in 2026.

On the headline numbers, H.B. Fuller looks cheap:

The reverse DCF at 9% tells us the market expects 4.6% annual free cash flow growth. That looks modest until we remember free cash flow shrank 13.1% a year over the last five.

Cheap, or cheap for a reason?

Trading at fair value once we count the debt. No new money from me until the September 23 earnings and a look at the post-deal balance sheet.

The 56-year streak is safe for now. The price isn’t our problem; the leverage is.

For today’s analysis, I’m using the MaxDividends Income System inside the MaxDividends Research Platform - the same framework I use every week to evaluate every company before adding it to my portfolio.

Every company first has to prove it’s a great business before I even look at the dividend. The Business Quality Score is built around five core areas:

✅ FUL Business Quality Score: 96/99 — Very Safe

HB Fuller’s scores 96 out of 99, placing it firmly in the Very Safe category.

A great business doesn’t automatically make a great dividend stock. Our Dividend Safety Score combines four key factors:

✅ FUL Dividend Safety Score: 97/99 — Very Safe

HB Fuller’s scores 97/99, giving me confidence that today’s dividend remains well supported by the business.

That conclusion comes from two independent checks:

Together, they suggest the stock is trading at a meaningful discount rather than at a fair valuation or a premium.

✅ FUL - Undervalued.

Today, the MaxDividends Research Platform rates HB Fuller as Undervalued.

With 38 consecutive years of annual dividend increases, H.B. Fuller Company has earned its place among the Top Dividend Eagles.

Every company in the MaxDividends Research Platform falls into one of three categories:

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Williams-Sonoma owns Pottery Barn (38% of sales), West Elm, Williams Sonoma, Pottery Barn Kids and Teen, and Rejuvenation, with 508 stores and a big online business.

Fiscal 2025 ended February 1, 2026:

A retailer with no borrowings earning 42% on its capital. Love that.

Second-quarter comps rose 6.2% in a market management calls “essentially flat.”

So what could go wrong? Two things.

First, revenue grew 2.85% a year over five years and is still 10% below its 2022 peak; earnings per share grew faster because the share count fell 22%. Second, tariffs. Merchandise margins fell 230 basis points last quarter; half of what WSM sells comes from China, Vietnam, and India, and furniture and cabinet tariffs rise again on January 1, 2027.

My Dividend Safety Score: 4.8 / 5 (Safe)

The easiest safety question of our eight. One note: last year WSM returned 111% of its free cash flow through buybacks and dividends, and it bought back no stock last quarter.

A caveat first. The second quarter included a one-time tariff refund of $197.8 million, so we strip it out.

That 15.4x average includes the boom years of 2021 and 2022, when peak earnings made the stock look cheap, so today’s multiple looks pricier than it is. Even so, the reverse DCF at 9% says today’s price needs 0.7% free cash flow growth a year. Over the last five years, free cash flow grew at 17% a year, although the last four have been lackluster.

Trading at fair value, Buy Below $180.

A great business at a fair price. At $180 we’d need 4% growth a year, which this retailer can deliver. January’s tariffs are on our watch list.

For today’s analysis, I’m using the MaxDividends Income System inside the MaxDividends Research Platform - the same framework I use every week to evaluate every company before adding it to my portfolio.

Every company first has to prove it’s a great business before I even look at the dividend. The Business Quality Score is built around five core areas:

✅ WSM Business Quality Score: 97/99 — Very Safe

Williams-Sonoma’s scores 97 out of 99, placing it firmly in the Very Safe category.

A great business doesn’t automatically make a great dividend stock. Our Dividend Safety Score combines four key factors:

✅ WSM Dividend Safety Score: 97/99 — Very Safe

Williams-Sonoma’s scores 97/99, giving me confidence that today’s dividend remains well supported by the business.

That conclusion comes from two independent checks:

Together, they suggest the stock is trading around fair value rather than at a meaningful premium or discount.

✅ WSM - Fairly Valued.

Today, the MaxDividends Research Platform rates Williams-Sonoma Inc as Fairly Valued.

With 19 consecutive years of annual dividend increases, Williams-Sonoma has earned its place among the Top Dividend Eagles.

Every company in the MaxDividends Research Platform falls into one of three categories:

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Stryker sells what surgeons and hospitals use every day: Mako robotic joint replacements, surgical equipment, hospital beds, neurovascular devices, and Inari’s clot-removal systems.

Here’s 2025:

So why is the stock down 20% this year?

A cyberattack on March 11 shut down manufacturing and led to a first-quarter miss. Then on September 8, the CFO said Inari supply shortages may run into the fourth quarter and hip sales are soft. The stock fell 8.8% that day.

The risk that matters for us: full-year guidance still needs double-digit organic growth in the second half, after 5.0% in the first.

Years of acquisitions left $25.3 billion of goodwill and intangibles on the books and return on invested capital at 11.3%.

Stock Simplifier Dividend Safety Score: 4.3 / 5 (Safe)

The one soft spot is the size of the raises. December’s was 4.8% ($0.84 to $0.88), so the dividend is growing slower than the business right now.

The reverse DCF at 9% tells us the market expects 15% free cash flow growth a year. Stryker delivered 18.0% over the last five. Are we being paid for the supply problems? I think so.

Buy, Buy Below $300.

Organic growth was 9.0% in the second quarter even with the supply problems. The third-quarter report is our checkpoint.

For today’s analysis, I’m using the MaxDividends Income System inside the MaxDividends Research Platform - the same framework I use every week to evaluate every company before adding it to my portfolio.

Every company first has to prove it’s a great business before I even look at the dividend. The Business Quality Score is built around five core areas:

✅ SYK Business Quality Score: 97/99 — Very Safe

Stryker’s scores 97 out of 99, placing it firmly in the Very Safe category.

A great business doesn’t automatically make a great dividend stock. Our Dividend Safety Score combines four key factors:

✅ SYK Dividend Safety Score: 97/99 — Very Safe

Stryker’s scores 97/99, giving me confidence that today’s dividend remains well supported by the business.

That conclusion comes from two independent checks:

Together, they suggest the stock is trading around fair value rather than at a meaningful premium or discount.

✅ SYK - Fairly Valued.

Today, the MaxDividends Research Platform rates Stryker as Fairly Valued.

With 16 consecutive years of annual dividend increases, Stryker has earned its place among the Top Dividend Eagles.

Every company in the MaxDividends Research Platform falls into one of three categories:

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Hubbell makes the unglamorous hardware of the power grid: connectors, insulators, and meters for utilities (62.8% of 2025 sales), plus electrical products for buildings and data centers.

Here’s 2025:

2026 has picked up. Data center sales rose 65% in the second quarter, and first-half organic growth was 9.2%.

Then on June 9, Hubbell closed its $3.0 billion purchase of NSI Industries at 15.5x EBITDA. Debt went from $2.3 billion to $5.4 billion, and return on invested capital falls to 13.8% on the bigger capital base.

Notice the second quarter: adjusted EPS rose 12% while GAAP EPS fell, $4.52 against $4.56. That’s a gap we should watch.

My Dividend Safety Score: 4.5 / 5 (Safe)

One caveat on that score: it runs on 2025 numbers, before the NSI debt.

The dividend is well covered. What changes for us is the rest of the cash; management says buybacks will be “modest” while it pays down debt over the next 24 to 30 months.

The reverse DCF at 9% implies the market wants 10.1% free cash flow growth per year. Hubbell grew free cash flow 11.0% a year over the last five, but that was before the new debt.

Is a fair price good enough? With debt more than doubled this year, I want a margin of safety.

Trading at fair value, Buy Below $370.

Our checkpoint is how fast that $5.4 billion of debt comes down.

For today’s analysis, I’m using the MaxDividends Income System inside the MaxDividends Research Platform - the same framework I use every week to evaluate every company before adding it to my portfolio.

Every company first has to prove it’s a great business before I even look at the dividend. The Business Quality Score is built around five core areas:

✅ HUBB Business Quality Score: 97/99 — Very Safe

Hubbell’s scores 97 out of 99, placing it firmly in the Very Safe category.

A great business doesn’t automatically make a great dividend stock. Our Dividend Safety Score combines four key factors:

✅ HUBB Dividend Safety Score: 96/99 — Very Safe

Hubbell’s scores 96/99, giving me confidence that today’s dividend remains well supported by the business.

That conclusion comes from two independent checks:

Together, they suggest the stock is trading around fair value rather than at a meaningful premium or discount.

✅ HUBB - Fairly Valued.

Today, the MaxDividends Research Platform rates Hubbell as Fairly Valued.

With 18 consecutive years of annual dividend increases, Hubbell has earned its place among the Top Dividend Eagles.

Every company in the MaxDividends Research Platform falls into one of three categories:

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FactSet sells financial data and analytics to investment firms and banks, by subscription. Buy-side clients like fund managers make up 82% of its subscription value.

Fiscal 2025 ended August 31, 2025:

The business itself is speeding up. Organic subscription value rose 7.1% in the third quarter, the third straight quarter of acceleration, and management said AI products drove more than 10% of that growth.

So why did the stock fall from an all-time closing high of $495.72 in November 2024 to $277.09 on September 15?

The sell-offs lined up with AI launches from Anthropic at the end of January and in May, and from OpenAI on September 10. The fear we keep hearing is that AI tools go around FactSet, and banks cutting junior analyst jobs means fewer seats to sell. Adjusted operating margin also slipped to 34.0% from 36.8%.

My Dividend Safety Score: 4.8 / 5 (Safe)

Buybacks plus dividends ran at 110% of free cash flow over the last twelve months. That doesn’t threaten a 23% payout; if cash gets tight, we’d expect buybacks to give first.

The reverse DCF at 9% tells us the market expects -3.5% annual free cash flow growth. We’re being offered FactSet priced like its cash flow stops growing, after 7.6% a year over the last five.

Could AI make that true? It could. The third-quarter numbers point the other way so far.

Buy, Buy Below $316.

This is the riskiest name of my eight, so it gets a smaller position. September 30 brings fourth-quarter results and the first fiscal 2027 guidance, and Investor Day follows on November 10.

For today’s analysis, I’m using the MaxDividends Income System inside the MaxDividends Research Platform - the same framework I use every week to evaluate every company before adding it to my portfolio.

Every company first has to prove it’s a great business before I even look at the dividend. The Business Quality Score is built around five core areas:

✅ FDS Business Quality Score: 96/99 — Very Safe

FactSet Research’s scores 96 out of 99, placing it firmly in the Very Safe category.

A great business doesn’t automatically make a great dividend stock. Our Dividend Safety Score combines four key factors:

✅ FDS Dividend Safety Score: 96/99 — Very Safe

FactSet Research’s scores 96/99, giving me confidence that today’s dividend remains well supported by the business.

That conclusion comes from two independent checks:

Together, they suggest the stock is trading at a meaningful discount rather than at a fair valuation or a premium.

✅ FactSet Research - Undervalued.

Today, the MaxDividends Research Platform rates FactSet Research as Undervalued.

With 26 consecutive years of annual dividend increases, FactSet Research has earned its place among the Top Dividend Eagles.

Every company in the MaxDividends Research Platform falls into one of three categories:

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Lockheed builds the F-35 (27% of 2025 sales), missiles like PAC-3, THAAD, and GMLRS, Sikorsky helicopters, and satellites. The US government is 72% of its sales.

Here’s 2025:

The backlog needs a footnote. Most of the first-half jump came from a THAAD award worth “up to $35 billion” whose price isn’t agreed yet.

Where are the chinks? Execution and growth. Lockheed has booked $4.0 billion of cumulative losses on three troubled programs, and its latest quarterly filing warns more are possible. F-35 deliveries fell to 51 in the first half from 97 a year earlier. Over five years, free cash flow grew 1.5% a year and EPS shrank 2.6% a year.

My Dividend Safety Score: 4.0 / 5 (Healthy)

The payout ratios are fine. The risk for us sits in Washington. A January 7, 2026 executive order lets the Pentagon bar “underperforming” defense contractors from paying dividends or buying back stock, and a Senate defense bill provision would restrict all of them (it stalled on July 14). Lockheed bought back zero stock in the first half of 2026, against $1.25 billion a year earlier, and hasn’t said why.

The raise usually gets declared between late September and mid-October. That decision tells us a lot.

Running our reverse DCF at 9% on guided free cash flow, the price implies 1.7% growth a year. Lockheed delivered 5%.

Cheap? No. Fair, with a decent yield.

Trading at fair value, Buy Below $489.

The fourth-quarter dividend declaration is our checkpoint; a raise answers the Washington question for this year.

For today’s analysis, I’m using the MaxDividends Income System inside the MaxDividends Research Platform - the same framework I use every week to evaluate every company before adding it to my portfolio.

Every company first has to prove it’s a great business before I even look at the dividend. The Business Quality Score is built around five core areas:

✅ LMT Business Quality Score: 96/99 — Very Safe

Lockheed Martin’s scores 96 out of 99, placing it firmly in the Very Safe category.

A great business doesn’t automatically make a great dividend stock. Our Dividend Safety Score combines four key factors:

✅ LMT Dividend Safety Score: 96/99 — Very Safe

Lockheed Martin’s scores 96/99, giving me confidence that today’s dividend remains well supported by the business.

That conclusion comes from two independent checks:

Together, they suggest the stock is trading at a meaningful discount rather than at a fair valuation or a premium.

✅ Lockheed Martin - Undervalued.

Today, the MaxDividends Research Platform rates Lockheed Martin as Undervalued.

With 26 consecutive years of annual dividend increases, Lockheed Martin has earned its place among the Top Dividend Eagles.

Every company in the MaxDividends Research Platform falls into one of three categories:

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Our shared goal is simple: build a growing stream of dividend income that can become a dependable source of financial independence, help cover everyday expenses, and eventually give you the freedom to live on your own terms.

Whether you’re just getting started or already well on your way, Dave and I sincerely hope you keep moving forward.

May the dividends pay the bills!

— Dave & Max
Founders, Dividend School | MaxDividends