ADP's Dividend Record in the Tech Sector

The Rare Thing: A Dividend Aristocrat in the Tech Sector

Most Dividend Aristocrats come out of staples, industrials, and healthcare. Automatic Data Processing is filed under Information Technology, which makes it an odd fit. It has raised its dividend for 49 straight years, a record almost no technology-sector name can match. The business behind it, payroll and human-resources services, generates the kind of recurring, subscription-like revenue that funds steady raises, even though the ticker lives in a sector known for boom and bust.

That mismatch is why ADP screens differently from both its sector and its dividend peers.

A Yield Running Above Its Own History

Start with the yield. ADP pays 2.43%, comfortably above the 2.26% Aristocrat median. More telling, that is 17% above ADP's own five-year average yield of 2.07%. On a steady compounder, an above-average yield usually points to a cheaper-than-usual entry, and our screen agrees, tagging ADP Undervalued. The premium to its own history has narrowed since early summer as the share price recovered, so the discount on offer is smaller than it was.

This is the reverse of a stock the market has bid up. The yield sits high against its own history, which is the fingerprint of a name that has lagged, not raced ahead.

Coverage That Backs the Raises

The dividend is covered, though not lightly. ADP pays out 61% of earnings, well above the 40% median for Dividend Aristocrats, with a 49-year streak sitting behind it.

A 61% payout next to a 49-year record says the raises are well covered and the streak is not straining to continue.

A Different Kind of Tech Exposure

The sector label is worth a second look. Most Information Technology names that pay no dividend at all plow everything back into growth, and their cash flows swing with product cycles. ADP's business runs on a different rhythm. Payroll and human-resources processing is embedded in how thousands of companies operate, the contracts recur, and switching providers is a genuine hassle for any client. That stickiness produces the steady, predictable cash flow a 49-year raise streak requires.

So an investor in ADP is not taking on the boom-and-bust profile the sector is known for. The revenue base behaves more like a utility or a staple, which is exactly why the dividend has survived five decades of technology cycles. The cash flow behind the payout is about as dependable as it gets, tech sector or not.

What Stands Out

ADP is the uncommon case where the sector label and the dividend profile pull in opposite directions. It sits in tech but pays like a staple: a 49-year streak and a comfortably covered 61% payout. And unlike most quality Aristocrats, its yield runs above its own history rather than below it, which is why the valuation reads cheap rather than stretched. The interesting part is not that ADP pays a dividend. It is that a tech-sector name pays one this durable, and currently at a discount to its own norm.

Current price, yield history, and the ex-dividend schedule update daily on the ADP data page. The dividend record and latest figures are in the company's filings on SEC EDGAR. How we group stocks by history tier and assign a current dividend profile is documented on our methodology page.

Disclaimer: This is informational only and not financial advice. Figures reflect the site snapshot dated 2026-08-09 and move with the market. Investing carries risk of loss, including loss of principal.