Investors could potentially enjoy a 3.4% yield from the FTSE 100 in 2026, according to the market consensus forecast for dividend payments next year. That compares with a 3.2% yield for 2025.
This is one of the key findings from the latest edition of the AJ Bell Dividend Dashboard, which looks at trends among the UK’s biggest listed companies and how much income investors might receive.
It is quite usual for analysts to start a year in an optimistic fashion and then trim back their forecasts as the year progresses. A gentle trickle of downgrades in the first nine months of the year suggested 2025 was about to stick to the script, but analysts have upgraded aggregate profit estimates for each of 2025, 2026 and 2027 in the fourth quarter of this year.
Which sectors are driving the upgrades?
The miners and the banks have been the biggest contributors to the upgrades, the former helped by rising industrial and precious metal prices, the latter by firm net interest margins and the absence of any major increase in sour loans.
Analysts even think that 2026’s total for pre-tax profits across the FTSE 100 could finally see the index exceed the record high of £231 billion in 2022.
Any further earnings forecast upgrades will help to underpin ordinary dividends, as well as any special payments and share buybacks, so this is a trend to follow.
Which stocks pay generous dividend?
For the second quarter in a row, the life insurers Legal & General and Phoenix offer the highest forecast dividend yields within the FTSE 100 at 8.7% and 7.9% respectively. They are followed by asset management giant M&G at 7.2%, and real estate investors Land Securities and LondonMetric Property at 6.6% apiece.
To learn more about FTSE 100 income opportunities, read the full AJ Bell Dividend Dashboard report.
Russ Mould: Investment Director
Russ Mould is AJ Bell's Investment Director. He has a Master's degree in Modern History from the University of Oxford and more than 30 years' experience of the capital markets.
He started out at Scottish...
