Free ratings · 193 tickers
Dividend Safety Score
A dividend safety score rates how likely a company or fund is to keep paying its dividend without cutting it. Ours runs 0 to 10, built from four public factors — yield zone, payout ratio, yield trend against the 5-year average, and instrument type and size. Every score below is free, and every ticker page shows exactly which factors added points and which took them away.
How the dividend safety score is calculated
Four factors, each scored 0 to 2.5, summed to a 0-10 total. No black box: the same four inputs are shown on every ticker page, with the points each one contributed.
| Factor | Points | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| Yield zone | 0–2.5 | Yields above 7% have historically carried elevated cut risk. A yield far above a ticker's own norm is usually the market pricing in doubt, not generosity. |
| Payout ratio | 0–2.5 | The share of earnings paid out as dividends. Below 60% leaves room to absorb a bad year; above 100% means the dividend is being funded from something other than current earnings. |
| Yield trend vs 5-year average | 0–2.5 | Current yield measured against the ticker's own 5-year average. A sharp spike usually reflects a falling share price rather than a raised dividend. |
| Instrument type and size | 0–2.5 | ETFs spread cut risk across many holdings, so a single company's trouble does not end the distribution. Larger issuers carry steadier cash flows than small ones. |
What a good dividend safety score looks like
| Score | Band | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| 8.0–10 | Strong | Well-covered payout with no elevated risk signals. |
| 6.0–7.9 | Stable | Sound, with one factor worth watching. |
| 4.0–5.9 | Mixed | Real tension between yield and coverage. Read the factor breakdown. |
| 0–3.9 | Fragile | Several elevated-risk signals at once. Verify before relying on the income. |
What the score does not tell you
The score measures payout durability, not total return, valuation, or whether a ticker suits your portfolio. Two things sit deliberately outside it. The first is tax: a 9/10 score says nothing about what you keep after tax, which turns on whether the distributions are qualified or ordinary — see the dividend tax treatment pages for the per-ticker answer. The second is concentration: a portfolio of ten 9/10 tickers in one sector is not safe, however good each individual score looks.
These pages use snapshot data and a simplified, transparent scoring model. The Infnits app version uses your real holdings — including ETF look-through to score your effective stock exposure — plus historical dividend cut data and concentration signals. Full detail is on the methodology page.
Frequently asked questions
What is a dividend safety score?
A dividend safety score is a single rating that estimates how likely a company or fund is to keep paying its current dividend without cutting it. The Infnits score runs 0 to 10, where 10 means no elevated risk signals and 0 means several at once. It is built from four public, checkable factors — yield zone, payout ratio, yield trend against the 5-year average, and instrument type and size — each scored 0 to 2.5 and summed. It measures the durability of the payout, not whether the stock is a good buy.
What is a good dividend safety score?
On a 0-10 scale, 8.0 and above is strong: the payout is well covered and no factor is flashing. 6.0 to 7.9 is stable with one factor worth watching. 4.0 to 5.9 is mixed — usually a high yield sitting on thin coverage. Below 4.0 means several elevated-risk signals at once, which does not guarantee a cut but does mean the income should not be relied on without checking the issuer directly.
How is the dividend safety score calculated?
Four factors, each scored 0 to 2.5 and added to a 0-10 total. Yield zone penalizes yields above roughly 7%, where historical cut rates rise. Payout ratio rewards dividends covered comfortably by earnings. Yield trend compares current yield to the ticker's own 5-year average, since a spike usually signals a falling price rather than a raised dividend. Instrument type and size reward diversification and scale. Every ticker page shows which factors added and which subtracted.
Is a high dividend yield unsafe?
Not automatically, but high yield is the single most common precursor to a cut. A yield rises either because the dividend went up or because the price went down, and the second is far more frequent at the top of the range. That is why the score treats yield as a risk factor to be weighed against coverage, rather than as a reward on its own.
Are these dividend safety scores free?
Yes. Every ticker page on this site shows the full score and the factor-by-factor reasoning at no cost, with no account required. The Infnits app adds a portfolio-wide version that scores your actual holdings with ETF look-through.