- Pays: quarterly — usually going ex-dividend in late January, April, July, and October.
- Paying since: its 1998 IPO — with the distribution raised for 26+ consecutive years, through two oil crashes and a pandemic. The MLP world's aristocrat.
- What it is: one of America's largest energy midstream networks — pipelines, storage, processing — earning fees on volumes moved.
- Today's yield: around 7%, covered roughly 1.7x by distributable cash flow — among the best-covered high yields anywhere.
- The tax wrinkle: it's an MLP — expect a Schedule K-1 at tax time, largely tax-deferred distributions, and IRA complications (UBTI).
EPD is a master limited partnership: distributions come with a K-1 (not a 1099), are largely tax-deferred return of capital, and the raise streak is the longest in the pipeline industry.
EPD pays quarterly. Each point below is one distribution since 1998 — a staircase that has never taken a step down.
Loading the latest data…
Each point is one payment; the line ends at the most recent payout. The table below totals them by year.
| Recent Ex-Dividend Dates | Distribution / Share |
|---|
"Next expected" is estimated from EPD's recent payment rhythm — the fund announces exact dates shortly before each payout, and the data feed can lag a few days. You must own shares before the ex-dividend date to receive that payout; the cash typically arrives days later. See every fund's upcoming date on the live dividend calendar.
A real total-return estimate, assuming every payout was reinvested — including what happened to the share price. Before taxes and fees. Past performance does not predict the future.
Now Estimate Your Own Future
These are assumptions, not a prediction. Want the full chart and tax options? Open the full calculator →
Enterprise is the pipeline company that never cut. Where Energy Transfer halved its payout in 2020, EPD raised through that year — and the 26-year streak reflects a deliberately conservative machine: lower debt than peers, distribution covered ~1.7 times, growth funded from retained cash instead of borrowing. Boring choices, compounding results.
The costs of admission are the MLP's usual paperwork — a K-1 form, deferred-tax bookkeeping, and real awkwardness inside IRAs — plus the sector's long-term question about hydrocarbon volumes. Our tax guide covers the basics before you buy.
| Year | Total Distributions / Share | Payments | Change vs Prior Year |
|---|
Data source: Yahoo Finance. Figures are per share; the current year may be partial and figures should be verified against official sources.
Calculated from complete calendar years in the data above. Past results don't guarantee future payments.
When Is EPD's Next Ex-Dividend Date?
EPD pays quarterly — usually going ex-dividend in late January, April, July, and October. The exact date of each payout is announced by the fund only shortly beforehand, so no site can promise the next date — but the live schedule box above shows the most recent ex-dividend date and the expected window for the next one, computed from EPD's actual payment rhythm. Remember: you must own shares before the ex-dividend date to receive that payout.
Twenty-Six Years Without a Step Down
Enterprise Products Partners has paid quarterly since 1998 and raised the distribution every year since — through the dot-com bust, 2008, the 2015 oil collapse, and 2020, each of which broke competitors' streaks. Currently about $2.20 per unit annually, yielding near 7%, covered ~1.7x by cash flow. In the high-yield world, this is the gold standard of durability.
The Toll-Road Model, Run Conservatively
EPD's 50,000+ miles of pipe earn volume-based fees mostly insulated from commodity prices — the same model as ET — but management's fifty-year habit is leaving margin for error: less leverage, more coverage, raises funded by cash instead of promises. That's why 2020 appears in EPD's chart as just another step up.
Where EPD Fits
The premier income anchor for investors who'll tolerate a K-1: a ~7% payout with a quarter-century of raises and genuine coverage. Taxable accounts suit it best (the deferral is the bonus); IRAs need the UBTI caveat. Pair with qualified-dividend growers like SCHD for the paperwork-free half of the portfolio. Next expected date on the live calendar.
The Tax Rules Behind Every Payout
Qualified, ordinary, ROC, K-1s — where each income type lands on your tax bill, in plain English.
Read: How Are Dividends Taxed?