Dividends remain one of the clearest signs of corporate confidence. For income-focused investors, they provide steady returns; for growth-minded ones, a dividend increase signals management's optimism about future cash flow. Since the start of October, several companies announced increases to their payouts — each one showing how financial discipline and strategic positioning translate into shareholder value.

Below, we spotlight four companies that recently raised their dividends, followed by a walkthrough of how to automatically track such events using the FMP's Dividends Calendar API.

This publication is part of FMP's Data in Action series — a running collection where we translate real-time market data into practical signals for analysts and portfolio managers.

For more insights like this, take a look at 5 Companies Boosting Dividends — and How to Track Hikes with the FMP API.

Notable Dividend Increases: 4 Companies to Note

Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX)

Starbucks announced a quarterly dividend of $0.62 per share, or $2.48 annualized, marking a 1.6% increase from the previous $0.61.

• Payable: November 28, 2025
  
  
• Record Date: November 14, 2025
  
  
• Ex-Dividend Date: November 13, 2025
  
  
• Dividend Yield: 2.9%
  
  

Analysis: Starbucks' modest increase underscores steady confidence as the company executes its Back to Starbucks initiative. The brand continues investing in store modernization and digital engagement while maintaining its long-term capital return commitment. The dividend growth may be incremental, but the consistency reinforces its positioning as a durable consumer staple with global pricing power.

RPM International (NYSE: RPM)

RPM International declared a quarterly dividend of $0.54 per share, or $2.16 annualized, up 5.9% from the prior $0.51.

• Payable: October 31, 2025
  
  
• Record Date: October 20, 2025
  
  
• Ex-Dividend Date: October 17, 2025
  
  
• Dividend Yield: 1.9%
  
  

Analysis: The increase extends RPM's long history of dividend growth—marking more than five decades of consecutive annual raises. Strong demand across construction materials and protective coatings, combined with disciplined cost management, continues to support its cash generation. For investors tracking consistency and payout reliability, RPM remains a standout in the industrials space.

Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT)

Lockheed Martin announced a quarterly dividend of $3.45 per share, or $13.80 annualized, representing a 4.5% increase from $3.30.

• Payable: December 30, 2025
  
  
• Record Date: December 1, 2025
  
  
• Ex-Dividend Date: November 28, 2025
  
  
• Dividend Yield: 2.7%
  
  

Analysis: Defense spending resilience continues to fuel Lockheed Martin's capacity for shareholder returns. The company's consistent free cash flow and multi-year contract visibility underpin its rising dividend. In the context of U.S. defense modernization programs, the payout boost reinforces management's confidence in both backlog stability and long-term profitability.

Avient Corporation (NYSE: AVNT)

Avient declared an annual dividend of $0.275 per share, a 1.9% increase from $0.27.

• Payable: January 7, 2026
  
  
• Record Date: December 12, 2025
  
  
• Ex-Dividend Date: December 11, 2025
  
  
• Dividend Yield: 0.9%
  
  

Analysis: Though the yield is modest, Avient's consistent dividend raises highlight ongoing financial discipline during its transformation toward high-performance materials. The company's focus on specialty polymers and sustainable composites continues to generate stable margins, offering room for gradual payout growth as earnings strengthen.

Interpreting the Hikes: What the Numbers Don't Show Alone

Dividend growth tells a broader story than headline percentages. For large-cap names like Starbucks, even a small increase translates into billions in shareholder value over time. For companies like Avient, disciplined increases through transformation phases signal long-term confidence.

For context, pairing dividend yield with valuation metrics such as P/E and EV/EBITDA helps investors gauge whether they're being compensated fairly for risk. Historical payout patterns also reveal management reliability—sustained raises through downturns often indicate operational discipline rather than opportunistic policy changes.

When screening dividend policies programmatically, pairing the Dividends Calendar API with Financial Statement API and Key Metrics API allows users to filter by both payout ratios and cash-flow stability—an efficient way to identify companies likely to sustain future increases.

For broader dividend strategy insights, this concept is expanded further in this breakdown on dividend investing for income generation, which pairs financial metrics with payout analysis for stronger screening logic.

Tracking Dividend Hikes with the FMP API

Rather than manually checking announcements, investors can automate this process using the FMP Dividends Calendar API, which provides a structured feed of dividend declarations, record dates, and yields.

Endpoint:

https://financialmodelingprep.com/stable/dividends-calendar?apikey=YOUR_API_KEY

Sample Response:

[

{

"symbol": "1D0.SI",

"date": "2025-02-04",

"recordDate": "",

"paymentDate": "",

"declarationDate": "",

"adjDividend": 0.01,

"dividend": 0.01,

"yield": 6.25,

"frequency": "Semi-Annual"

}

]

Step 1: Retrieve Latest Dividend Announcements

Query the Dividends Calendar endpoint for a defined date range — for example, the most recent 14 days — to capture fresh payout updates.

Step 2: Compare Current Payouts with Previous Distributions

Call the historical dividend endpoint for each symbol and calculate the percentage change between the latest and the prior payout.

Step 3: Apply Targeted Filters to Highlight Meaningful Changes

Use logic such as:

• Dividend hikes ≥ 5%
  
  
• Dividend yield ≥ 2.50%
  
  

This process automatically surfaces the most notable dividend increases without manual tracking.

Example Workflow: Detecting 5%+ Dividend Hikes

1. Use the Dividends Calendar API to fetch all dividend announcements for the past 14 days.
   
   
2. For each company, retrieve historical payout data.
   
   
3. Compute the hike percentage using:
   (New Dividend - Old Dividend) / Old Dividend × 100
   
   
4. Filter results for companies with ≥ 5% hikes and ≥ 2.50% yields.
   
   

At this stage, insights can be pushed into dashboards or screening tools. Many users integrate data alongside other endpoints available through the FMP platform for building custom workflows.

Expanding Your Dividend Tracking Setup

You can start experimenting with this setup using FMP's Basic or Starter plans, which provide ample data coverage for recent events. For more advanced users seeking historical depth or broader market coverage, the Premium plan offers five years of dividend history, ideal for backtesting policies or constructing income strategies.

Extending Screening Across Teams

While individual analysts can easily run the Dividends Calendar API for research, institutional integration delivers far greater impact. When FMP's dividend data is linked into firm-wide research platforms or portfolio dashboards, every team—from portfolio managers to risk and compliance—works from the same reliable source.

The result: unified visibility into payout trends, faster analysis cycles, and streamlined decision-making. With FMP's enterprise plan, teams can standardize assumptions, automate reporting, and scale monitoring globally—all while maintaining governance and accuracy.

Turning Dividend Signals into an Ongoing Research Edge

Dividend hikes reflect confidence in future cash generation. Starbucks, RPM International, Lockheed Martin, and Avient each exemplify that link between strategy and shareholder return.

By automating dividend tracking through FMP's Dividends Calendar API, analysts can move beyond reactive monitoring to a proactive, data-driven approach—ensuring they never miss an income-relevant event across their coverage universe.