A. O. Smith raised its quarterly dividend to 38 cents a share, up from 36 cents, and will pay it on Monday, November 16 to shareholders of record on Friday, October 30. The Milwaukee water heater maker announced the 6% increase on October 12. It applies to both the company’s common stock and its Class A common stock.
Chairman and chief executive Steve Shafer said in the announcement that the increase reflects confidence in the strength of the business. The company says it has now raised its dividend for more than 30 consecutive years.
Who gets the 38 cents, and by what date
Only shareholders on the company’s books by the October 30 record date receive the November 16 payment. The company’s dividend history page lists October 30 as the ex-dividend date too, and that date is the one that decides who is paid.
The rule is simple. Investor.gov, the SEC’s investor education site, explains that a buyer before the ex-dividend date gets the dividend, while a buyer on or after that date does not and the seller keeps it. For A. O. Smith, that means shares have to be bought by October 29 to collect the 38 cents, and anyone who already owns the stock and holds through October 30 is paid without doing anything.
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On a simple count, 100 shares pay $38 for the quarter and 500 shares pay $190. Those figures are before any tax, and each payment is declared separately by the company.
A two-cent raise after a year at 36 cents
The company’s dividend history shows the 36-cent rate was declared on October 13, 2025, and paid for four straight quarters beginning November 17, 2025. Before that, the quarterly payment was 34 cents. The new 38-cent rate works out to $1.52 a year for a shareholder who collects four payments.
Shareholders have already collected three payments at 36 cents this year, on February 17, May 15 and August 17. November 16 will be the first payment at the higher rate, and it is the fourth and last scheduled dividend of 2026 on the company’s calendar so far.
The same table lists annual totals by ex-dividend date: $1.38 in 2025 and $1.46 in 2026, counting the November payment. It goes back further, with $1.30 in 2024, $1.14 in 2022, 98 cents in 2020, 76 cents in 2018 and 48 cents in 2016. On those figures, the yearly payout has roughly tripled in a decade. The page says the data comes from a third-party provider and is for information only.
The declarations have followed a steady calendar. The board announced the last eight payments on January 16, April 7, July 7 and October 13 in 2025, then January 15, April 13, July 13 and October 12 in 2026. That puts the next declaration, and the next chance for a change in the rate, around mid-January.
The business paying the dividend
A. O. Smith trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol AOS. It makes residential and commercial water heating equipment and boilers, along with water treatment and water management products.
The company’s investor relations site describes a company of about 12,700 employees with more than $3.8 billion in sales, selling in about 80 countries. It cites revenue growth of 7.2% a year and adjusted earnings per share growth of 14.6% a year over the five years from 2019 to 2024. It also says its free cash flow conversion is above 100%, meaning cash generated has exceeded reported profit.
Those are the company’s own figures, and they describe the capacity behind a payout that has now risen every year for three decades. They do not promise the next raise. Each dividend is a decision the company makes quarter by quarter.
How the November 16 payment is taxed
The IRS says all taxable dividends are ordinary income, with a lower rate for qualified dividends, the ordinary dividends that meet the tests for capital gains rates. The company that pays the dividend identifies which part is qualified on Form 1099-DIV, and the IRS says each payer should send one for distributions of at least $10.
Not every distribution is a dividend in the tax sense. The IRS notes that a payment treated as a return of capital lowers the shareholder’s basis in the stock instead of counting as a dividend, and once basis reaches zero, further amounts are taxed as capital gains. The Form 1099-DIV spells out the split.
Taxable ordinary dividends have to be listed on Schedule B once they pass $1,500 for the year. At the new rate, that is about 987 shares of A. O. Smith alone, by simple arithmetic: 987 shares times $1.52 is just over $1,500. Holders of other dividend stocks add their payments together.
Larger investment income can also bring the net investment income tax, a point the IRS makes on its capital gains topic page. The IRS says people with significant investment income may owe it and points them to its separate guidance for the details.
For a household living on a pension, Social Security and a dividend portfolio, the open question is how much the 38-cent payment adds to the year’s taxable income, and whether the company reports it as qualified. The Form 1099-DIV that arrives after year-end answers the second part, and the first depends on how many shares are held.
Counting the November 16 dividend as part of 2026 income?
Dividend payments land on a tax return as income, and the programs that help with Medicare costs, prescriptions, food, heating and property taxes set their own income limits. What counts as income differs from program to program, so a bigger payout can leave a household unsure which side of a line it sits on.
The Benefits Checklist is the related job a dividend story points to. It covers 11 benefit programs, including Medicare Savings Programs, Extra Help for prescriptions and SNAP at 60 and older, with the 2026 income limits laid out for each.
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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
