A Dividend King the market is underestimating. 54-year history meets an uncertain outlook

When traveling salesmen Maxwell Becton and Fairleigh Dickinson met on a business trip in 1897 and decided to open a small New Jersey syringe workshop, they could hardly have guessed that more than 120 years later their company would produce billions of needles and catheters a year and become an almost invisible yet irreplaceable part of practically every hospital on earth. Over the decades, the unobtrusive medical-supply manufacturer evolved into a medtech giant with a market capitalisation above $50 billion and, moreover, has raised its dividend for 54 consecutive years without a single pause – whether a recession, a pandemic or anything else struck. Even Becton, Dickinson went through its own roller coaster: in 2026 it completed one of the most dramatic transformations in its history by spinning off part of its business and merging it with Waters Corporation, while the shares reacted with a decline and analysts had to cut their price targets. Still, the company is getting back in shape, reminding investors that even amid structural transformation a defensive business built on indispensable products can remain the place dividend investors return to when seeking stable, predictable income.

Becton, Dickinson and Company $BDX is one of the handful of US firms that have managed to raise their dividend for more than half a century, through recessions, a pandemic and structural shifts in healthcare. The investor must nevertheless ask whether this tradition can survive the coming years, because the company is currently going through one of the most pronounced transformations in its history: in February 2026 it completed the spin-off of its Biosciences & Diagnostic Solutions segment and its merger with Waters Corporation, becoming a narrower, pure-play medtech company. At the same time it carries relatively high debt, and the latest quarters showed a decelerating earnings-growth rate. It is precisely the combination of an unusually long dividend track record, a strong economic moat (competitive advantage), elevated leverage and the ongoing structural transformation that makes BD an interesting case for deeper analysis.

A company with more than 50 years of dividend growth

The often-cited figure of roughly 40 years of dividend growth understates the reality. Becton, Dickinson has already raised its dividend for 54 consecutive years, which places it among the so-called Dividend Kings, i.e. companies with at least a 50-year track record of uninterrupted dividend growth. The status is confirmed by management, which stated in its fiscal-2025 earnings commentary that it returned $2.2 billion to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases as part of the 54th consecutive annual dividend increase. This length of uninterrupted growth puts BD alongside names such as Procter & Gamble $PG or Johnson & Johnson $JNJ and signals that the company has weathered dozens of economic cycles without even pausing its dividend.

Historically, the dividend-growth rate has not always been mild. In the early 2000s the dividend grew at a double-digit pace, and in 2003 it even jumped 50% year-on-year. Over the last decade the pace has settled at roughly 5–6% annually, a more conservative but more sustainable approach befitting the company’s maturer phase.