3 Fresh Dividend Hikes That Might Be Telling You Something

Three major players across apparel, homebuilding, and consumer staples have announced increases to their quarterly dividends. Leveraging their strong industry positions, each company is taking steps to return more capital to shareholders.

NKE’s Yield Steps Up to 2.5% as Shares Decline

First up is the most valuable U.S. stock in the textiles, apparel, and luxury goods industry: Nike (NYSE: NKE). With a market capitalization of over $95 billion, Nike is larger than the combined market capitalizations of the next four largest U.S. stocks in this industry. On a global scale, Nike is the fifth-largest name in this space, demonstrating the significant role that European companies play.

Nike has certainly lost a lot of its shine over the past three years, with shares down around 39%. However, one silver lining to this is the upward pressure that a falling share price puts on a company’s dividend yield. After its latest dividend increase, announced on Nov. 20, Nike’s indicated dividend yield sits above 2.5%. That’s approximately double where this figure stood three years ago.

Nike’s quarterly dividend will rise by 3% to 41 cents per share. This new amount is payable on Jan. 2, 2026, to shareholders of record as of the close of business on Dec. 1. Investors who miss this window can very likely receive the payout in future quarters. Over the last 24 years, Nike has only raised its dividend.

PHM: Outperforming Homebuilder Boosts Dividend 18%

PulteGroup (NYSE: PHM) is the third most valuable homebuilding stock in the United States. This ranking holds even when looking across the whole world, as there are relatively few large international homebuilding stocks. Amid an unimpressive year for many homebuilders, Pulte has risen above the pack. The stock has delivered a total return of more than 17%, handily beating the 5% return of the SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF (NYSEARCA: XHB).

Benefiting PulteGroup is its strategy to remain firm on home prices. For example, last quarter, the average selling price of a PulteGroup home rose 3%. Meanwhile, D.R. Horton saw its average selling price fall by 3%. This allowed Pulte to maintain the highest gross margin in its industry of 26.4%. For comparison, D.R. Horton’s gross margin was 20.8% last quarter.

On Nov. 19, Pulte announced a very significant 18% increase to its quarterly dividend. Its new 26-cent-per-share dividend is payable on Jan. 6, 2026, to shareholders of record as of the close of business on December 16. This gives Pulte an indicated dividend yield of approximately 0.8%. Although this figure is relatively low, it is encouraging to see that the firm is taking steps to return more capital to shareholders through its large dividend increase.

MKC Raises Dividend as It Feels the Tariff Heat

McCormick & Company (NYSE: MKC) is one of the top ten most valuable U.S. stocks in the food products industry. It also ranks in the top 25 globally. Shares have delivered a total return of around -10% in 2025, with sales growing in the range of 0% to 3% for the year. Tariffs have not been kind to the spice maker, which imports many of its raw products.

Last quarter, the company raised its gross tariff impact forecast by 55% to $140 million. However, it does expect to offset half of this through mitigation efforts. General increases in commodity prices are also having a negative impact.

Despite going through a difficult period, the company announced a 6.7% increase in its quarterly dividend on Nov. 18. Its new dividend of 48 cents per share is payable on Jan. 12, 2026, to shareholders of record on Dec. 29. The stock now holds a strong indicated dividend yield of approximately 2.8%. This significantly exceeds the less than 1.1% indicated yield offered by the S&P 500 Index.

PHM: Dividend and Rate-Cut Probability on the Rise

Overall, NKE, PHM, and MKC are all making strides to increase the amount of income they provide to shareholders. Pulte stands out, with the stock delivering outsized returns compared to its industry and providing the largest dividend increase on this list. It will be interesting to see if the company’s margin-over-growth strategy continues to pay off.

The potential for lower interest rates is one factor aiding home builders. According to the CME FedWatch Tool, there is currently an 87% chance of a Federal Reserve rate cut in December, up from just 30% on Nov. 19.

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