McDonald's Lifts Quarterly Dividend 4% to $1.93 a Share

McDonald's Corporation raised its quarterly dividend by 4% to $1.93 per share, extending its streak of annual increases to 50 consecutive years, SSBCrack reported on October 13, 2026. The new rate works out to $7.72 a year and a yield of roughly 3.3%, above the company's five-year average of 2.24%.

The company reported second-quarter 2026 revenue of $7.10 billion, up 4% from a year earlier, with diluted earnings per share rising 6% to $3.32. Comparable sales grew 1.3% globally and 0.8% in the United States.

McDonald's operates mainly through franchising, collecting royalties and rent in addition to sales at company-run locations. About 95% of its restaurants worldwide were run by franchisees at the end of 2025, according to SSBCrack.

On cash flow, the company generated $10.6 billion from operations in 2025 and $7.2 billion in free cash flow after $3.4 billion in capital spending. For the 12 months ending in June 2026, operating cash flow was $11.35 billion and levered free cash flow $6.26 billion, covering the annual dividend about 1.15 times. The earnings payout ratio is roughly 59.7%. McDonald's returned $7.1 billion to shareholders through dividends and buybacks in 2025.

Revenue has grown from $23.22 billion in 2021 to about $27.70 billion for the 12 months through June 2026. The shares trade at a trailing price-to-earnings ratio of about 19.4 and a forward ratio of 17.1.

This story was first reported by SSBCrack.