IBM Has Paid Dividends Since 1916. Here’s Why Retirees Should Pay Attention Now

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  • IBM’s $14.7B free cash flow covered dividends at a 42% payout ratio in 2025, but one-cent annual raises since 2020 deliver little real income growth.

  • Cisco raised its dividend 2% backed by $14B in operating cash flow; Oracle froze its payout while burning cash on $28B in capital spending.

  • Just released. Our analysts combed the entire stock market and named the ten best stocks to buy right now, and IBM didn’t make the cut. Enter your email to see the names that beat IBM. The report is free. Enter your email and see if any of your stocks made the cut.

IBM (NYSE:IBM) has paid a quarterly dividend every year since 1916, and 2026 brought its 31st consecutive year of dividend increases. For retired people who own the stock for income, the run matters less than the cash behind it. IBM is also paying for AI, acquisitions and quantum computing, and a weak second quarter has added pressure.

Close-up of a person's hands using a smartphone, with a laptop partially visible in the blurred background. The scene is overlaid with a network of glowing orange and yellow interconnected gears and circuit lines. Inside the gears are various financial and business icons, including a calendar, a globe, a dollar sign with a mouse cursor, a clock, a rising bar chart, a business analysis chart, two business people, and the word 'DIVIDENDS', emphasizing financial concepts within a digital and technological framework.
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Free Cash Flow Still Covers the Payout

IBM generated $14.734 billion of free cash flow in 2025 and paid $6.255 billion in common dividends. That means the payout took about 42% of free cash flow. In the first half of 2026, IBM produced $4.8 billion of free cash flow and paid out $3.2 billion in dividends. Management still expects free cash flow to rise by about $1 billion this year. CFO Jim Kavanaugh described the plan on the July call:

IBM price target
IBM Price Target — 24/7 Wall St.

“We believe with the focused portfolio that we have, with a very disciplined capital allocation, the diversity of our business model as you see in our guide, with a relentless focus on productivity, we drive the durability of that free cash flow engine that, by the way, enables that flywheel to invest for growth.”

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A Long Streak Kept Alive by One-Cent Raises

The raises have become much smaller. In 2015, IBM lifted the quarterly dividend from $1.10 to $1.30, an increase of about 18%. Every annual raise since 2020 has been exactly one cent, taking the payout from $1.63 to today’s $1.69. The latest increase was about 0.6%. At $233.24 a share, the $6.76 annualized dividend yields about 2.9%. The board is protecting the run and sending most extra cash elsewhere.

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