- Pays: quarterly — ex-dividend dates usually in late February, May, August, and November.
- Paying since: its 1999 IPO, with the payout raised or held every year since — and increased for the last decade-plus straight.
- The outlier year: 2022, when a pandemic-shipping windfall funded a 49% raise ($4.08 → $6.08). The raises since: pennies.
- Today's yield: around 6% — not from generosity, but from a share price that fell as shipping volumes normalized.
- The tension: the dividend consumes most of current profits, so the streak continues on management's will and a hoped-for freight recovery.
UPS's payout ratio is elevated after the 2022 mega-raise met a freight slowdown — the dividend is currently a priority being defended, not a comfortable afterthought.
UPS pays quarterly. Each point below is one dividend since 1999 — a steady climb, one huge leap in 2022, and tiny steps since.
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 | Dividend / Share |
|---|
"Next expected" is estimated from UPS'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 →
UPS's chart splits into three eras: two decades of dependable growth, the 2022 moonshot (a 49% raise declared at the peak of pandemic shipping), and the penny-raises since — the look of a management team defending a commitment made in better times. E-commerce shipping is a genuinely great long-term business; the dividend was simply sized for its best year ever.
That's why the yield says 6% on a blue-chip name: the price has fallen to where the market wonders aloud about coverage. If freight volumes recover, today's buyer locked a high qualified yield at a discount. If profits stagnate, the raises stay symbolic — and the c-word enters analyst notes. The payout ratio is the number to watch each quarter.
| Year | Total Dividends / 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 UPS's Next Ex-Dividend Date?
UPS pays quarterly — with ex-dividend dates usually in late February, May, August, and November. 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 UPS's actual payment rhythm. Remember: you must own shares before the ex-dividend date to receive that payout.
From IPO to a 22x Payout
UPS started paying $0.30 per share in 1999 and reached $6.56 in 2025 — a 22-fold rise across a quarter century, with no year ever paying less than the one before. Most of that history is a model dividend-growth story. The current chapter is more interesting: a payout sized during 2021's shipping mania, now being carried through a freight recession one penny-raise at a time.
The Best Year Ever Problem
In 2022, management raised the dividend 49% in a single stroke — generous, confident, and timed at the exact top of pandemic shipping. Volumes then normalized, competitors (including Amazon's own network) pressed margins, and earnings settled well below the level that dividend assumed. The result is visible in two places: raises of roughly one cent per quarter since, and a share price low enough to make brown trucks yield 6%. It's the cleanest live case study of why payout ratios, not payout streaks, measure safety.
Where UPS Fits
UPS is a recovery-plus-income position: a real 6% qualified yield today, upside if freight profits rebound, and honest coverage risk if they don't — sturdier than a yield trap, less serene than KO. It slots into the same 'paid to wait' bucket as PFE, and diversifying across several such names (or letting VYM do it for you) is how most income investors manage the single-story risk. Next expected date on the live calendar.
Payout Ratios, Explained
The single number that decides whether a big dividend is durable or doomed — with a calculator to check any stock.
Read: Payout Ratio Guide