Dividend Raises Are Spreading—These 3 Big Players Led the Move

Big-name stocks across the finance and industrial sectors are kicking off 2026 with significant dividend boosts. These include giants in investment banking, asset management, and construction solutions. Let’s review the performance of these names in 2025, what they see in 2026, and what kind of dividend income investors should expect going forward.

Goldman Issues Second Dividend Raise in a Year After Historic 2025

First up is investment banking behemoth The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE: GS). The stock performed incredibly well in 2025, delivering a total return of 56%, marking its largest calendar year gain since 2009. Investment banking fee growth was particularly good last quarter, coming in at around 25%. Looking into 2026, Goldman continues to have a lot of confidence in this side of its business. Interest in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) is strong, leading companies to seek Goldman’s advice in these potential transactions. Furthermore, Goldman says that M&A advisory interest creates a flywheel effect that boosts other business lines. Notably, the company’s backlog is at its highest level in four years.

Along with releasing its Q4 2025 and full-year earnings on Jan. 15, the company announced its latest dividend boost. The company’s quarterly dividend will move up to $4.50, a substantial 12.5% increase versus its past payout. This boost gives the stock a solid indicated dividend yield of just under 2%. Notably, this is the company’s second dividend increase in less than one year, with its quarterly payment up 50% versus May of 2025.

BlackRock Boosts Dividend 10%, Yield Moves to 2%

Next up is the largest asset management company in the world, BlackRock(NYSE: BLK). With approximately $14 trillion in assets under management, the company exceeds the second-largest player in this space, Vanguard Group, by over $2 trillion. Despite growing revenues by nearly 19% in 2025, the fastest rate that the company has achieved since 2021, the stock delivered only a 6.5% return.

A steep drop in the company’s margins helped keep a lid on investor excitement. BlackRock’s full-year operating margin was 29%, dropping approximately 800 basis points versus 2024. This came as the firm faced large integration costs from acquiring companies like HPS Investment Partners, GIP, and Preqin. These acquisitions also inflated the company’s growth rate by putting their revenues under the firm’s umbrella. With these companies now fully integrated, BlackRock is likely in a better position to benefit from the deals in 2026.

Despite not delivering an impressive performance in 2025, BlackRock provided investors with a strong dividend boost during the new year. On Jan. 15, the company announced 10% increase to its quarterly dividend, moving the figure up to $5.73 per share. This gives BlackRock a dividend yield of approximately 2%.

FAST Announces Solid Dividend Increase, Growth Could Accelerate

After a good 2025, the $50 billion industrial and construction supply company Fastenal (NASDAQ: FAST) is rewarding investors through a dividend boost. In 2025, Fastenal delivered a solid 14% total return, moderately trailing the 17.7% return generated by the S&P 500 Index. Revenues grew by 9% in the year, the company’s fastest growth rate since 2022. However, the firm’s margins remained relatively stable, leading adjusted earnings per share (EPS) to rise 9% as well. The company may be trending in the right direction, with the potential for revenue acceleration in 2026. In its last earnings call, the firm said, “We anticipate double-digit net sales growth in 2026." However, management noted that this is not official guidance. The company also noted that it continues to see ongoing challenges in industrial production.

On Jan. 16, the company declared a quarterly dividend of 24 cents per share. This marks a 9% increase versus the company’s previous payout of 22 cents. Overall, the stock holds an indicated dividend yield of approximately 2.2%.

Why BlackRock Offers the Best Risk/Reward in This Yield Trio

All three of these names offer strong dividend yields in the 2% range. This is substantially higher than the approximately 1.1% yield offered by the S&P 500 Index. Among this group, Wall Street analysts see the most upside potential in BlackRock.

The MarketBeat consensus price target projects 16% upside in shares. The average of targets released after the company’s latest earnings report puts that figure at 21%.

Companies Mentioned in This Article: