How much will IBM pay in dividends in 2025?

Computer Veteran International business machines (IBM -6.17%) issued its first dividend check in 1913, and quarterly payments have never ceased. The company has also increased its payout per share for 28 years, a trend that should continue for the foreseeable future.

IBM dividends data on YCharts.

So I can’t tell you the exact amount of IBM. dividend payments in 2025. The company will likely increase its payout in June, as it has done every year since 1995.

I anticipate that IBM will issue a token quarterly dividend increase of $0.01 per share next year, resulting in a full calendar year payout of $6.71 per share. However, management may have more optimistic ideas.

IBM free cash flow rising in the latest earnings reports. If the cash earnings trend continues, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Big Blue increase its payout by more than $0.01 next summer.

Potential IBM dividend adjustments

If you prefer to view IBM’s dividend payments as total dividend expense, then even a larger quarterly increase next year would likely bring full-year dividend expense within the $6.2 billion rounding error. That’s a little more than half of this fiscal year’s expected free cash flow of at least $12 billion, and likely a smaller portion of growing cash earnings next year.

IBM’s profits are soaring thanks to strong software sales and a growing presence in the market for enterprise-class artificial intelligence (AI) services. Watsonx generative AI The platform now has more than $3 billion in orders, up from $2 billion three months ago. The majority of these orders are for consulting services rather than software licenses, highlighting the unique business advantages of IBM’s strong consulting segment.

IBM must pay a dividend of at least $6.71 per share next year, for a total dividend expense of approximately $6.2 billion. And these costs become smaller part IBM’s growing cash flow.