Petros Petropoulos AEBE (ATH:PETRO) Is About To Go Ex-Dividend, And It Pays A 2.7% Yield

Regular readers will know that we love our dividends at Simply Wall St, which is why it's exciting to see Petros Petropoulos AEBE (ATH:PETRO) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next day or so. The ex-dividend date is usually set to be one business day before the record date which is the cut-off date on which you must be present on the company's books as a shareholder in order to receive the dividend. It is important to be aware of the ex-dividend date because any trade on the stock needs to have been settled on or before the record date. Therefore, if you purchase Petros Petropoulos AEBE's shares on or after the 15th of April, you won't be eligible to receive the dividend, when it is paid on the 22nd of April.

The company's next dividend payment will be €0.8644737 per share, and in the last 12 months, the company paid a total of €0.26 per share. Calculating the last year's worth of payments shows that Petros Petropoulos AEBE has a trailing yield of 2.7% on the current share price of €9.70. We love seeing companies pay a dividend, but it's also important to be sure that laying the golden eggs isn't going to kill our golden goose! So we need to investigate whether Petros Petropoulos AEBE can afford its dividend, and if the dividend could grow.

Check out our latest analysis for Petros Petropoulos AEBE

Dividends are usually paid out of company profits, so if a company pays out more than it earned then its dividend is usually at greater risk of being cut. Petros Petropoulos AEBE has a low and conservative payout ratio of just 20% of its income after tax. Yet cash flows are even more important than profits for assessing a dividend, so we need to see if the company generated enough cash to pay its distribution. Petros Petropoulos AEBE paid a dividend despite reporting negative free cash flow last year. That's typically a bad combination and - if this were more than a one-off - not sustainable.

Click here to see how much of its profit Petros Petropoulos AEBE paid out over the last 12 months.

Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?

Companies with consistently growing earnings per share generally make the best dividend stocks, as they usually find it easier to grow dividends per share. If earnings fall far enough, the company could be forced to cut its dividend. It's encouraging to see Petros Petropoulos AEBE has grown its earnings rapidly, up 28% a year for the past five years.

Many investors will assess a company's dividend performance by evaluating how much the dividend payments have changed over time. In the last four years, Petros Petropoulos AEBE has lifted its dividend by approximately 27% a year on average. Both per-share earnings and dividends have both been growing rapidly in recent times, which is great to see.

The Bottom Line

From a dividend perspective, should investors buy or avoid Petros Petropoulos AEBE? We like that Petros Petropoulos AEBE has been successfully growing its earnings per share at a nice rate and reinvesting most of its profits in the business. However, we note the high cashflow payout ratio with some concern. All things considered, we are not particularly enthused about Petros Petropoulos AEBE from a dividend perspective.

While it's tempting to invest in Petros Petropoulos AEBE for the dividends alone, you should always be mindful of the risks involved. To help with this, we've discovered 3 warning signs for Petros Petropoulos AEBE (1 doesn't sit too well with us!) that you ought to be aware of before buying the shares.

Generally, we wouldn't recommend just buying the first dividend stock you see. Here's a curated list of interesting stocks that are strong dividend payers.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.