3 Buy-Rated Dividend-Growth Stocks on Our Radar

Barchart · 22h ago

If you look at the world of dividend-growth stocks, you'll find a lot of bullish sentiment from the Wall Street professionals tasked with researching these companies.

It's not difficult to see why.

A dividend program, in and of itself, is a powerful statement by corporate management about their company's ability to generate profits—specifically, it implies that they expect to produce enough in earnings on a regular basis that they can share some of it with us. Now imagine what it means when a company builds a track record of growing those dividends each and every year.

However, as bullish as "the Street" might be about dividend growers as a whole, research firms clearly favor some dividend-growth stocks more than others … and those are the stocks we're interested in talking about today.

Read on as I introduce you to some of the best dividend-growth stocks you can buy, as measured by consensus ratings across dozens of Wall Street analysts.

Disclaimer: This article does not constitute individualized investment advice. Individual securities, funds, and/or other investments appear for your consideration and not as personalized investment recommendations. Act at your own discretion.

Dividend-Growth Stocks That Wall Street Loves

Here's how I came up with today's list of highly rated dividend-growth stocks.

I started with a "selection universe" of the 500 companies within the S&P 500 Index. Next, I included only companies with 10 or more years of uninterrupted annual dividend growth. (These companies are frequently referred to as "Dividend Achievers.")

From there, I excluded any company with a consensus analyst rating (provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence) of Hold or below. S&P boils down consensus ratings down to a numerical system where …

1 to 1.5: Strong Buy
1.5 to 2.5: Buy
2.5 to 3.5: Hold
3.5 to 4.5: Sell
4.5 to 5: Strong Sell

In fact, every dividend-growth stock on this list has a rating of 2 or less, indicating that at worst they enjoy a very firm consensus Buy rating, if not an outright Strong Buy rating.

From there, I selected some of the highest-rated dividend stocks that qualified, but with a firm eye on creating a somewhat diversified list. Specifically, no sector is represented by more than two stocks.

Yield wasn't even a consideration. Dividend growers often don't have a high current yield—and if you're taking the long view, they don't necessarily need to. If a company yielding 1% today has a commitment to robust dividend growth, that same stock could yield 3%, 4%, or even more as the years roll by.

The following are a few selections from my broader look at the market's best dividend-growth stocks.

Eaton

Sector: Industrials
Market cap: $170.0 billion
Dividend yield: 1.0%
Consensus analyst rating: 1.52 (Buy)

Eaton (ETN) is a Dublin, Ireland-domiciled but Beachwood, Ohio-headquartered power management company that operates across most of the world. Its offerings include electrical and industrial components, power distribution and assemblies, residential products, wiring devices, utility power distribution products, and more. Outside of its power portfolio, it offers everything from pumps and motors to transmissions and engine values to aircraft flap and slat systems. Its products power a wide variety of industries, not to mention vehicles and aircraft.

A number of trends are working in Eaton's favor, including digitalization, energy transition, and electrification. And it also benefits from growth in infrastructure spending.

"The company has been experiencing strong orders and record backlogs that should position it well to deliver EPS [earnings per share] growth over the long term, driven by margin improvement, capacity expansion, and top-line growth," Argus Research analyst Kristina Ruggeri writes. "Data centers, in particular, have been a high growth area for Eaton, with strong order growth and a backlog that spans 15 years.

Among other things, Eaton is an early mover in solid-state transformers, which are a core power-distribution technology for AI datacenters. It has also been making acquisitions to bolster its thermal management offerings.

"Management also expects solid growth in aerospace and utility end markets," adds Ruggeri, who is among 23 analysts who see ETN stock as Buy-worthy. That number dwarfs the remaining three Holds and lone Sell.

Eaton has also managed to keep the pedal down on its dividend for the better part of two decades. In February 2026, it announced a roughly 6% increase to its cash distribution, to $1.10 per share marking 17 consecutive years of higher payouts. And it has paid dividends every year for more than a century.

That distribution is hardly making a dent in ETN's bottom line, either. At current levels, the dividend represents less than a third of Wall Street's expectations for 2026 adjusted earnings.

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Cardinal Health

Sector: Healthcare
Market cap: $51.2 billion
Dividend yield: 0.9%
Consensus analyst rating: 1.50 (Buy)

Cardinal Health (CAH) is an essential cog in the healthcare machine, providing both products and services to hospitals, healthcare systems, pharmacies, ambulatory surgery centers, physician offices, even home patients.

Just a small sample of its offerings include distributing branded, generic, and specialty pharmaceutical, medical supplies, over-the-counter healthcare products, and consumer products; pharmacy management services; Cardinal Health-manufactured and branded medical, surgical, and laboratory products; and supply chain services.

Cardinal shares rocketed higher in 2025, up 76% on a total-return basis (price plus dividends). It's had more of a roller-coaster year in 2026, though shares are still in the green with high-single-digit gains. Among the drivers were its fiscal third-quarter earnings report, released in August.

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"We would characterize the initial FY27 outlook and business update as consistent with recent outperformance," says UBS analyst Kevin Caliendo (Buy). "Looking ahead, management continues to expect to grow Pharma modestly faster than the market, benefitting from [wholesaler acquisition cost] inflation and continued but moderating GLP-1 demand."

The consensus is for more of the same; Caliendo is one of 15 Buys on the stock, in contrast to three Holds and no Sells.

Cardinal Health is another Aristocrat to crack our list of the best dividend-growth stocks right now. CAH extended its streak of payout increases to 30 years in May 2026, when it improved its cash distribution by 1% to 51.58¢ per share. Moreover, a low dividend payout ratio of just above 20% of 2026's projected earnings means there's plenty of headway for further increases.

Best Dividend-Growth Stock #5: Mastercard

Sector: Financials
Market cap: $490.1 billion
Dividend yield: 0.6%
Consensus analyst rating: 1.43 (Strong Buy)

Mastercard (MA) is one of the world's top payment card networks, spanning some 3.7 billion Mastercard credit and debit cards accepted at more than 110 million locations in over 210 countries and territories. It's not just individual consumers who swipe with Mastercard, either—many businesses actually purchase from other businesses using Mastercard's plastic.

But what's interesting about Mastercard is that, despite making it possible for literally $10 trillion-plus worth of annual transactions to go through, the company isn't really responsible for any of the underlying funds. Mastercard itself is not a bank—instead, thousands of banks and other financial institutions use the company's technology to give its customers the ability to spend anywhere, anytime. So, if you use a Chase Mastercard, Chase Bank is taking on the financial risk; Mastercard is just the middleman between merchant and bank.

And it's quite the middleman.

"We expect earnings to continue compounding at a mid-teens rate or better for the foreseeable future, supported by the company's rapid pace of innovation," says Alexander Yokum, analyst at independent research firm CFRA (Buy). "Value-added services represent the most compelling growth driver and should outpace overall company growth, as clients increasingly adopt MA's technology offerings in cybersecurity and fraud prevention. Cross-border volumes remain a positive signal as well, proving resilient in the face of tariff headwinds and geopolitical uncertainty stemming from the Iran conflict."

That's just one of 36 Buy calls on Mastercard stock. The remaining four ratings on the stock are Holds.

Another reason why Mastercard is among the best dividend-growth stocks to buy right now? The card company has strung together 15 years of uninterrupted dividend hikes, delivering nearly 300% payout growth over that time. Its most recent hike was a substantial 14% boost to 87¢ per share, announced in late 2025 starting with the January dividend. That represents less than 20% of expected earnings for 2026, giving Mastercard the flexibility to keep upward pressure on the distribution.

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