Dividends on the Move: From Heroes to Zeroes This Week
8 Huge Dividend Hikes, 6 Brutal Cuts — This Week’s Standouts (Week 18/19, 2025)
In a wild week for dividend investors, we witnessed an extraordinary wave of dividend increases, surprise special dividend announcements, and no fewer than five dividend cuts—with one company even eliminating its dividend entirely.
Some big names stepped into the spotlight with dividend hikes, including Alphabet GOOG 0.00%↑ , Apple AAPL 0.00%↑ , RTX RTX 0.00%↑ , AIG AIG 0.00%↑ , and General Motors GM 0.00%↑ . Even more impressive, two Dividend Aristocrats—Cardinal Health CAH 0.00%↑ and WW Grainger GWW 0.00%↑ —boosted their payouts, along with two Dividend Heroes.
Between April 29 and May 5, we recorded over 30 dividend increases in the United States, 2 special dividend announcements, and a surprisingly high number of 6 dividend cuts or suspensions. Also, one well known company reinstated its quarterly dividend.
We’ve got the full breakdown for you—every raise, cut, and special payout—all in one place. Let’s dive in! (spoiler: we had 8 double digit dividend hikes this week including two Dividend Heroes!)
Eight Double-Digit Dividend Hikes—Including Two Dividend Heroes
Between April 29 and May 5, a total of eight U.S. companies announced double-digit dividend increases, including two Dividend Heroes: W.W. Grainger and Watts Water Technologies WTS 0.00%↑ . Grainger is one of our Top 25 picks for 2025 and therefore part of our custom dividend index. Watts Water also carries the Hero badge but scored fewer points in our ranking. Still, it's a stock we’re seriously considering for a new position in the dividend portfolio—more on that later this week.
Dividend Track Records: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Last week also brought some notable names on the track record front. Aside from Grainger (54 consecutive years of increases), we saw MSA Safety MSA 0.00%↑ (59 consecutive years of increases), and—on the other end of the spectrum—the notoriously weak Dividend Aristocrats IBM IBM 0.00%↑ and Cardinal Health CAH 0.00%↑ . These two are absolute laggards when it comes to dividend growth: Cardinal Health (CAH) is crawling along at 1% per year, while IBM is barely inching forward at just 0.6% annually. It honestly doesn’t get much worse when you line up all U.S. Dividend Aristocrats.
Disappointments from Big Names
Other familiar names stood out for the wrong reasons. Pool Corp POOL 0.00%↑ , a Buffett pick, disappointed with its smallest dividend increase in years.
Apple AAPL 0.00%↑ continues to slide in terms of dividend growth, and Alphabet GOOG 0.00%↑ , which only started paying dividends last year, managed a measly 5% increase. That's nowhere near enough—but it fits the pattern we've seen from other recent initiators like Salesforce CRM 0.00%↑ and Facebook and Instagram parent Meta META 0.00%↑ . They’re technically paying dividends, yes—but they’re doing the bare minimum to keep the streak alive. This is not the kind of disciplined, shareholder-first dividend growth we’re looking for.
We much prefer companies that hike their dividend by double digits, every single year—and we’ve identified several new candidates that will soon join our portfolio.
Special Dividends
There were two special dividend announcements:
Red Rock Resorts RRR 0.00%↑ is handing out another $1.00 special dividend, just like last year.
Sun Communities SUI 0.00%↑ raised eyebrows with a $4.00 special payout.
Dividend Cuts: A Wave of Bad News
Unfortunately, the week also saw a surprising number of dividend cuts—something we flagged earlier. As previously mentioned, Wendy’s, ManpowerGroup, and Cable One all lowered their dividends.
But it got worse:
Organon OGN 0.00%↑ , a pharmaceutical spin-off, slashed its dividend by a stunning 92.9% to just $0.02 per quarter. Investors are clearly unhappy—shares are down over 40% this year.
Resources Connection RGP 0.00%↑ cut its dividend by 50%, and
Arbor Realty ABR 0.00%↑ , a mortgage REIT, ended a long streak of increases with a 30.2% cut.
A Comeback Story?
Lastly, Western Digital WDC 0.00%↑ announced it will resume paying dividends. The company halted its $0.50 quarterly payout in 2020—now it’s tiptoeing back in with a modest $0.10 quarterly dividend. A cautious restart, but a restart nonetheless.
Disclaimer: The information provided here is for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial advice. Investors should conduct their own research or consult with a financial advisor before making any investment decisions.