Key Takeaways
- Blue Owl Capital yields 9.0% and Truist Financial yields 4.2%, and both declared unchanged quarterly dividends in late October.
- Truist’s dividend has stayed at $2.08 a share since fiscal 2023 and took 52% of normalized EPS in fiscal 2025.
- Blue Owl’s dividend took 41% of free cash flow over the twelve months to Sept. 30, 2026, but its distributable earnings of $0.24 a share barely topped its $0.23 quarterly dividend in the third quarter.
- The things to watch are redemption requests at Blue Owl’s non-traded funds and Truist’s 2027 outlook, due in January.
Any retiree hunting for dividend income is going to notice a 9% yield. That’s what Blue Owl Capital (OWL) pays today. Fears about its private credit funds left the stock 63% below its all-time high on Oct. 2.
Truist Financial (TFC) pays less than half that, a 4.2% yield. It spent October selling off loan books and working under a new CEO.
So which is the better pick for a retiree who needs the dividend check to show up every quarter?
| Metric | Truist Financial (TFC) | Blue Owl Capital (OWL) |
|---|---|---|
| Dividend yield | 4.2% | 9.0% |
| Annual dividend | $2.08 a share | $0.92 a share |
| 5-year dividend growth | 2.9% a year (fiscal 2020-2025) | n/a |
| Coverage, on its own measure | 52% of normalized EPS (fiscal 2025) | 41% of free cash flow (TTM to Sept. 30, 2026) |
| Net debt/EBITDA | n/a (bank) | 2.9x |
| Valuation | 1.6x tangible book | 11x forward earnings |
Source: TIKR; dividend rates from StockAnalysis. Yields at today’s prices.
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Truist’s check has been stuck at $2.08
On Oct. 27, Truist’s board declared another $0.52 quarterly dividend, the same rate it has paid since fiscal 2023.
Truist stopped raising when earnings slipped. Normalized EPS fell from $4.96 in fiscal 2022 to $3.59 in fiscal 2023, and the bank kept paying the full dividend anyway:
The payout ratio jumped from 40.3% in fiscal 2022 to 57.9% in fiscal 2023. It then eased to a comfortable 51.9% in fiscal 2025, as EPS recovered to $4.01.
The bank is in the middle of an overhaul. On Oct. 14, it agreed to sell $7.7 billion of LightStream consumer loans to Carlyle, with the $7.2 billion of net proceeds going to repay wholesale borrowings. Third-quarter adjusted diluted EPS rose 12% from a year earlier to $1.16, more than twice the quarterly dividend.
Michael Lyons hosted the Oct. 16 call as CEO, succeeding Bill Rogers. He said the work is “about creating a stronger foundation for both sustainable growth and higher returns over time.”
The risk is a smaller loan book. Average loans fell $3.6 billion from the second quarter, so earnings have to grow from a narrower base.
Blue Owl pays more than twice as much
Blue Owl’s yield is more than double Truist’s, and the cash behind it has grown fast. Free cash flow rose from $276 million in fiscal 2021 to $1.2 billion in fiscal 2025, and the dividends it paid rose faster, from $47.1 million to $547 million:
That took the cash dividend payout ratio from 17.0% in fiscal 2021 to 45.6% in fiscal 2025. Over the twelve months to Sept. 30, 2026, the ratio was a well-covered 41%.
The fee business is growing. In the third quarter, fee-related earnings rose 14% from a year earlier to $427.5 million.
Management’s own measure leaves much less room. Distributable earnings were $0.24 per adjusted share in the third quarter, against the $0.23 dividend. On the call, management said Blue Owl has now crossed into over-earning its dividend and expects to keep doing so in 2027 and beyond. For all of 2026, it expects to beat $0.89 of distributable earnings per share, against $0.92 of dividends.
The funds that produce those fees are under pressure. On Oct. 2, Reuters reported that investors asked to redeem 39% of Blue Owl Technology Income Corp.’s shares in the third quarter, up from 38.1% in the second quarter. Both of Blue Owl’s big non-traded funds capped repurchases at 5%.
So which dividend wins?
For a retiree, I’d go with Truist. Someone living off dividends needs a check they can count on, and a 9% check that gets cut does more damage than a 4.2% one that keeps coming. Truist kept paying in full through earnings drops in fiscal 2020 and fiscal 2023.
Growth is Truist’s weak spot. $10,000 in Truist pays $420 a year today. At its 2.9% 5-year rate, that would be about $545 in year 10, a 5.4% yield on your cash, assuming raises resume after the flat stretch.
Blue Owl’s case is strong. Its free cash flow covers the dividend more than twice over, and the stock is cheap against its own history:
At 11x forward earnings, Blue Owl trades well below its 19x five-year average and not far above its 9.1x low in April. Management also says redemption requests at Blue Owl Credit Income Corp. fell for a second straight quarter.
Still, Blue Owl’s distributable earnings topped its dividend by just a penny last quarter. Truist’s dividend leaves room for a bad year.
If Blue Owl keeps over-earning its dividend through 2027 and redemption requests keep easing, I’d find that 9% yield much harder to pass up.
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Disclaimer:
Please note that the articles on TIKR are not intended to serve as investment or financial advice from TIKR or our content team, nor are they recommendations to buy or sell any stocks. We create our content based on TIKR Terminal’s investment data and analysts’ estimates. Our analysis might not include recent company news or important updates. TIKR has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading, and happy investing!
