5 Quality Stocks Set to Reward Investors With Dividend Hikes
Recent dividend hikes from DRH, STE, BCC, KWR and WHD highlight financially solid companies as investors seek stability in a mixed market.

DiamondRock Hospitality Company (DRH) operates as an internally managed real estate investment trust (REIT), maintaining a distinguished and geographically varied portfolio of ...
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$0.48 per share
Est. EPS $0.15 · Revenue $287.79M · 2 analysts
$0.48 per share
Est. EPS $0.12 · Revenue $277.35M · 3 analysts
| Metric | Latest | YoYYoY means Year-over-Year. It compares the latest annual value with the previous annual value to show long-term trend strength. | QoQQoQ means Quarter-over-Quarter. It compares the latest quarter with the immediately previous quarter to show short-term momentum changes. |
|---|---|---|---|
| RevenueThe total money that came through the front door from selling things, before paying a single bill. Think of it as the grand total of every credit card swipe from customers. (YoY compares this year to last year's performance, while QoQ compares the current three months to the previous three). | $1.1B | -0.8% | +23.3% |
| Net IncomeThe absolute bottom line. If the company paid every single supplier, employee, banker, and tax collector, this is the actual money left in their pocket at the end of the day. | $101.4M | +111.1% | +525.6% |
| Gross MarginThe basic markup. If they sell a $100 pair of sneakers, this percentage tells you how much of that price tag is profit right after paying for the rubber and shoelaces, but before paying for things like store rent or TV commercials. | +55.2% | +0.9% | -68.3% |
| Operating MarginThe 'day job' efficiency score. Out of every dollar a customer spends, this shows how many cents the company keeps after making the product AND paying for all the everyday corporate overhead (like salaries, marketing, and keeping the lights on). | +14.4% | +14.0% | +107.8% |
| Net MarginThe final take-home percentage. When you strip away every conceivable cost, tax, and interest payment, this is the exact number of cents the company truly gets to keep from every dollar in sales. | +9.1% | +112.9% | +407.4% |
| Free Cash FlowThe holy grail of corporate cash. It's the spendable, physical money left over after the business pays for its daily operations AND buys the big, expensive upgrades (like new factories or servers) it needs to survive. This is the 'free' money they can use to pay dividends or buy back stock. | $162.1M | +13.5% | +5240.4% |
| FCF MarginThe ultimate cash conversion rate. It shows how good the company is at turning regular sales directly into cold, hard, spendable cash. A high percentage means the business is an absolute cash-printing machine. | +14.5% | +14.4% | +4231.6% |
| Debt / EquityThe financial risk gauge. It compares how much of the company's empire was built using borrowed money (loans) versus the owners' own money (shareholders). A high number means they are heavily leveraged and playing a riskier game; a low number means they are playing it safe. | 81.9% | +10.3% | -4.9% |
| Current RatioThe 12-month survival check. It simply compares the cash they have right now (plus things they can quickly turn into cash) against the immediate bills they absolutely must pay this year. A score above 1 means they have enough in the wallet to cover the upcoming bills without panicking. | 0.19x | -79.9% | +172.6% |
| Total AssetsThe absolute size of the company's empire. It bundles together absolutely everything of value they own—from the cash in the register and the inventory in the warehouse, to the software patents in the vault and the factories on the ground. | $3.0B | -5.3% | +1.9% |
| Metric | Annual (A vs E) | Annual Surprise | Quarter (A vs E) | Quarter Surprise |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EPS Surprise | 0.44 vs 0.42 | +5.8% | 0.44 vs 0.22 | +103.6% |
| Revenue Surprise | $1.1B vs $1.1B | +0.1% | $318.3M vs $315.0M | +1.1% |
| Date | Executive | Title | Security | Side | Shares | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 14, 2026 | Lepori Stephanie | director | Common stock, par value $0.01 per share | A | 111 | $12.08 |
| Jun 12, 2026 | Merrill Kathleen | director | Common stock, par value $0.01 per share | D | 20,000 | $11.88 |
| May 13, 2026 | Hartmeier Michael A. | director | Common stock, par value $0.01 per share | D | 20,000 | $10.46 |
| May 4, 2026 | Zalotrawala Tabassum | director | Common stock, par value $0.01 per share | A | 10,753 | — |
| May 4, 2026 | WARDINSKI BRUCE D | director | Common stock, par value $0.01 per share | A | 10,753 | — |
Operator: Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to DiamondRock's Second Quarter 26 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speakers' presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press *11 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press *11 again. As a reminder, today's conference is being recorded. I will now hand the conference over to your first speaker, Briony R. Quinn, chief financial officer. Briony R. Quinn: Good morning, everyone, and welcome to DiamondRock's Second Quarter 26 Earnings Call and Webcast. Joining me today is Jeffrey John Donnelly, our Chief Executive Officer and Justin L. Leonard, our President and Chief Operating Officer. Before we begin, let me remind everyone that many of our comments today are not historical facts and are considered to be forward looking statements under federal securities laws. As described in our filings with the SEC, these statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties that could cause future results to differ materially from what we discuss today. In addition, on today's call, we will discuss certain non GAAP financial information. A reconciliation of this information to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure can be found in our earnings press release. We are pleased to report another quarter of strong operating performance. Our business model demonstrated its earnings power as RevPAR grew 7% supported by improving trends across all customer segments. While expenses excluding the benefit of favorable property tax appeals increased just 1.8% due to our relentless focus on efficiency. The significant operating leverage drove our 240 basis point margin expansion and led to strong profit growth. We delivered corporate adjusted EBITDA of $108 million and adjusted FFO per share of $0.44 during the quarter. Our results benefited from the settlement of multiyear property tax appeals on our 2 Chicago hotels, which totaled $6.9 million or $0.03 per share. Excluding this benefit, our FFO margin expanded by an impressive 303 basis points and our trailing 12 months free cash flow per diluted share defined as adjusted FFO less capital expenditures increased 27% year-over-year to $0.80 Starting with the top line performance, comparable RevPAR increased 7% during the quarter, with April and May each growing approximately 5.5%, followed by 10.1% growth in June reflecting broad based strength across all customer segments. While the World Cup benefited several of our markets, most notably Boston and Greater San Francisco, it was not the primary driver of our performance. We estimate the World Cup contributed approximately 90 basis points to our second quarter RevPAR growth, and we now expect it to contribute approximately 30 basis points for the full year. Which is modestly above …
| Name | Title | Compensation | Gender | Year Born | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Jeffrey John Donnelly | Chief Executive Officer & Director | USD 2,346,281 | Male | 1971 | Active |
Justin L. Leonard | Executive Vice President of Asset Management, Chief Operating Officer & President | USD 1,806,758 | Male | 1978 | Active |
Briony R. Quinn | Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer & Treasurer | USD 1,217,236 | Female | 1971 | Active |
Anika Fischer | Senior Vice President, General Counsel, Corporate Secretary & Compliance Officer | USD 887,313 | Female | 1990 | Active |
Dustin Resnick | Vice President of Acquisitions and Investments | — | Male | — | Active |
Stephen Spierto | Senior VP, Chief Accounting Officer & Controller | — | Male | 1991 | Active |
Recent dividend hikes from DRH, STE, BCC, KWR and WHD highlight financially solid companies as investors seek stability in a mixed market.

DiamondRock Hospitality NYSE: DRH reported second-quarter 2026 operating results marked by higher revenue per available room, expanded hotel margins and an increase to its full-year outlook, as strength across group, transient and leisure demand supported results.

DiamondRock Hospitality Company (DRH) Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

The headline numbers for DiamondRock Hospitality (DRH) give insight into how the company performed in the quarter ended June 2026, but it may be worthwhile to compare some of its key metrics to Wall Street estimates and the year-ago actuals.

DiamondRock Hospitality (DRH) came out with quarterly funds from operations (FFO) of $0.44 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.37 per share. This compares to FFO of $0.35 per share a year ago.
