ADP

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 2.75%, a shade over the 2.46% Aristocrat average. More telling, that is 33% above ADP's own five-year average yield of 2.06%. On a steady compounder, an above-average yield usually points to a cheaper-than-usual entry, and our screen agrees, tagging ADP Undervalued. For the yield to fall back to its five-year norm on the current $6.48 payout, the price would have to rise from $242 toward $323.

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 has room. ADP pays out 61% of earnings, under the 68% Aristocrat average, and earns a Safety Score of 98, near the top of our scale. A 49-year streak sits behind both numbers.

A 98 safety score next to a 61% payout says the raises are well covered and the 49-year record 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 98 safety score is the screen's way of saying 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, a covered 61% payout, a near-perfect safety score. 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. The Safety Score itself is built from a 0–50 streak component and a 0–50 payout component; the full formula is on our methodology page.

Disclaimer: This is informational only and not financial advice. Figures reflect the site snapshot dated 2026-07-06 and move with the market. Investing carries risk of loss, including loss of principal.