Giants Costco, Sanofi, and SAP Raise Dividends by Over 10%

Key Points

• Costco, Sanofi, and SAP each raised their dividends by more than 10%, signaling continued capital return commitments despite varied stock performance.
• After a rare annual decline in 2025, Costco is up more than 15% in 2026.
• Software giant SAP is now trading near its three-year low forward price-to-earnings ratio amid an AI-driven sell-off.

Several stocks with market capitalizations above $100 billion just made notable dividend announcements. These names are among the largest in their respective industries, and despite widely differing performance, continue to make good on their commitments to return more capital to shareholders.

Get Costco Wholesale SMS alerts:

Sign Up

Costco Announces 13% Dividend Boost Amid Strong Start to 2026

First up is the world’s second most valuable consumer staples stock, Costco Wholesale NASDAQ: COST. With Costco having a market capitalization of nearly $450 billion, Walmart NASDAQ: WMT is the only larger consumer staples name.

In 2025, Costco slumped, delivering a total loss of nearly 5%. This marked only the sixth year in which COST generated a negative annual return since 1994. That is an impressive track record, with Costco’s return being positive in over 80% of the last 32 years.

After a down 2025, Costco shares have come roaring back in 2026. Overall, the stock has delivered a total return exceeding 15%. Costco has provided multiple strong monthly sales reports, leading to considerable gains in the stock. Sales rose by 9.3% year over year (YOY) in January and 11.3% YOY in the five weeks ended April 5.

Additionally, Costco has benefited from a market-wide rotation into consumer staples stocks.

Amid a strong start to the year, Costco has just announced a significant 13% dividend increase. The company’s quarterly dividend will move up to $1.47, payable on May 15 to shareholders of record as of the May 1 close. This gives Costco an indicated dividend yield near 0.6%. Although the yield is not large, Costco has consistently issued substantial dividend increases, with an annualized five-year dividend growth rate of 12.75%.

High-Yield Sanofi Boosts Dividend After Mixed 2025

Next up is Sanofi NASDAQ: SNY, one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies. The stock is one of just 15 within the pharma and biotechnology industries with a market capitalization above $100 billion. SNY shares have been range-bound for a significant time, with a total loss of over 10% over the past five years. Despite the company’s blockbuster drug Dupixent posting impressive growth of 25% in 2025, a series of disappointing pipeline readouts pressured shares.

However, the firm is shaking things up, recently announcing a new CEO in Belén Garijo. Garijo’s goal will be to reinvigorate Sanofi’s innovation pipeline and develop a new blockbuster drug aside from Dupixent. Dupixent alone accounted for almost 40% of sales last quarter, demonstrating the company’s need for greater product diversification.

In the meantime, Sanofi continues to return more capital to shareholders. The company recently increased its dividend to $2.42 per depository receipt. This was a 19% hike in U.S. dollar terms, with the size of the increase reflecting the impact of a stronger euro.

Because France withholds tax on dividends paid abroad, and depositary fees trim a bit more, the effective yield to U.S. holders ranges from roughly 4.7% gross down to about 3.5% net.

The firm will make its annual payment on June 3 to shareholders of record as of the May 4 close. Notably, the firm has a long history of issuing dividend increases, having boosted its payout for 31 years in a row through 2025.

AI Pushes Down SAP, Dividend Moves Up Amid Strong Earnings

Last up is global software giant SAP NYSE: SAP. With a market capitalization near $400 billion, SAP is the world’s fourth most valuable software stock. However, like most names in this industry, SAP has come under serious pressure recently.

The stock is down more than 25% in 2026 and down over 40% from its 52-week high. The artificial intelligence software sell-off in late January and early February hit SAP particularly hard. The stock has now fallen to a forward price-to-earnings ratio of approximately 20X, near its lowest level over the past three years.

Still, SAP saw a strong 7.4% bounce after its latest earnings report, with the company beating adjusted earnings per share estimates while falling slightly short on sales. The firm’s cloud revenue growth of 27% was a strong point, while current cloud backlog rose 25%, signaling solid demand ahead.

Notably, the firm’s operating margin increased by around 275 basis points to 30%.

SAP also raised its dividend per depository receipt to approximately $2.93, an increase of approximately 15% in U.S. dollar terms. After German withholding tax and depositary fees, the net yield to U.S. holders runs from roughly 1.4% down to 1.2%. The company will pay its annual dividend on May 15 to shareholders of record as of the May 5 close.

Multiple Analysts Eye $1,100 for Steady-Eddy Costco

Costco has garnered several price target upgrades in April, with many analysts calling for the stock to eclipse the $1,100 mark. Price targets updated in April average around $1,074, moderately higher than the MarketBeat consensus price target near $1,046. This updated average target implies upside in shares of just over 5%.

However, it is worth noting that targets typically don’t stray too far from Costco’s actual price, with it being one of the least volatile names in the market. This hasn’t stopped the stock from delivering a total return above 100% over the past three years.