Dividend Boosts and Buybacks: Signs of Strength From These Firms

In an era when shareholder value is under the spotlight, several companies are reaffirming their commitment to returning capital by sweetening their dividends and ramping up share repurchases. While market volatility remains a key theme, dividend-paying stocks continue to offer stability—and increasingly, upside potential—as firms boost their payouts and execute aggressive buyback strategies.

As of the Apr. 18 market close, the following companies have stood out for enhancing their shareholder return policies through higher dividend distributions and, in some cases, multibillion-dollar buyback programs.

Constellation Brands Launches $4 Billion Share Buyback Program

Constellation Brands (NYSE: STZ) recently announced its fiscal year 2025 results and provided an updated outlook for the next three years. The report contained lots of interesting information. First off, Constellation is increasing its next quarterly dividend to $1.02 per share. The dividend will be payable on May 15 to shareholders of record on Apr. 29. This increase is very small, at just under 1%. However, the stock has an indicated dividend yield of 2.2% now, substantially higher than the 1.3% yield of the S&P 500 Index.

In addition to the company’s boosted dividend, the firm announced a new share buyback program. This program is worth $4 billion and lasts for the next three years. In relation to the firm’s approximately $34 billion market capitalization, this share buyback program is huge. Overall, it represents nearly 12% of the company’s value. The firm would need to spend an average of around $1.3 billion annually over the next three years on buybacks to use its full capacity. This would be a marked increase from the just over $1 billion in average annual buyback spending the company engaged in over the previous three years. The company notes that its expected buyback pace is the fastest compared to a group of eight alcoholic beverage peers.

Constellation plans to maintain a dividend payout ratio of around 30% for the foreseeable future. The company sees earnings per share (EPS) dropping over the next 12 months but returning to growth in each of the two years afterward. Given the firm’s stable payout ratio policy, the dividend should follow the same path.

ENI Increases Dividends and Plans for Large Buybacks

For 2025, ENI (NYSE: E) has announced a dividend of 1.05 euros per share (approximately $1.14 USD), an increase of 5% from the prior year. Shareholders of Eni’s American Depository Receipt (ADR) traded on the New York Stock Exchange will also receive their payments in euros. The new higher quarterly payment won’t take place until September. Overall, the stock has a very strong dividend yield of over 5%.

The company also announced a new share buyback program. The program is worth 1.5 billion euros (approximately $1.56 billion USD), but it can increase to 3.5 billion euros (around $3.64 billion USD) in certain situations. This buyback program is large, representing around 4% to nearly 10% of the company’s market capitalization. Additionally, the program ends in Apr. 2026, indicating that Eni will look to buy back a large amount of its shares quickly.

H.B. Fuller Ups Dividend Nearly 6% After Quarter of Buybacks

Next up is H.B. Fuller (NYSE: FUL), the world’s largest pure-play adhesives stock. The basic materials company’s next quarterly dividend will be $0.235 per share, equating to $0.94 per share over four quarters. This is a notable increase of 5.6% from its prior quarter dividend. This dividend will be payable on May 13 to shareholders of record at the close of business on Apr. 29. Overall, the company has a modest indicated dividend yield of just under 1.8%.

Last quarter, H.B. Fuller spent over $44 million on share buybacks. For a company worth only around $3 billion, this was substantial, reducing the company’s outstanding share count by almost 1%. The company noted that it saw an opportunity to repurchase stock due to market volatility. Indeed, the company’s shares dropped by more than 25% during its last reporting period. The company intends to continue opportunistically repurchasing stock.

Fastenal Bolts on a Little Extra to Its Quarterly Dividend

Last up is Fastenal (NASDAQ: FAST), which is raising its next quarterly dividend payment to $0.44 per share. The company will pay this dividend on May 23 to shareholders of record at the close of business on Apr. 25. This new payment represents a jump of 2% compared to the payment last quarter. After this increase, the company has a solid indicated dividend yield of nearly 2.2%. The company has notably not engaged in share repurchases since 2022.

All in all, these four companies continue to fulfill their commitment to return capital to shareholders, striving to increase their payments over time. Additionally, the aggressive buyback programs from several of these stocks indicate that management feels confident in the direction of their firms.

Companies Mentioned in This Article: