Here's What You Should Know About SM Energy Company's (NYSE:SM) 0.8% Dividend Yield

Is SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM) a good dividend stock? How can we tell? Dividend paying companies with growing earnings can be highly rewarding in the long term. If you are hoping to live on the income from dividends, it's important to be a lot more stringent with your investments than the average punter.

A slim 0.8% yield is hard to get excited about, but the long payment history is respectable. At the right price, or with strong growth opportunities, SM Energy could have potential. Remember though, given the recent drop in its share price, SM Energy's yield will look higher, even though the market may now be expecting a decline in its long-term prospects. Some simple analysis can reduce the risk of holding SM Energy for its dividend, and we'll focus on the most important aspects below.

Explore this interactive chart for our latest analysis on SM Energy!

Payout ratios

Dividends are typically paid from company earnings. If a company pays more in dividends than it earned, then the dividend might become unsustainable - hardly an ideal situation. So we need to form a view on if a company's dividend is sustainable, relative to its net profit after tax. Although SM Energy pays a dividend, it was loss-making during the past year. When a company recently reported a loss, we should investigate if its cash flows covered the dividend.

Of the free cash flow it generated last year, SM Energy paid out 39% as dividends, suggesting the dividend is affordable.

Consider getting our latest analysis on SM Energy's financial position here.

Dividend Volatility

One of the major risks of relying on dividend income, is the potential for a company to struggle financially and cut its dividend. Not only is your income cut, but the value of your investment declines as well - nasty. For the purpose of this article, we only scrutinise the last decade of SM Energy's dividend payments. This company's dividend has not fluctuated wildly, but its dividend per share payments have still decreased substantially over this time, which is not ideal. During the past 10-year period, the first annual payment was US$0.1 in 2010, compared to US$0.02 last year. This works out to a decline of approximately 80% over that time.

We struggle to make a case for buying SM Energy for its dividend, given that payments have shrunk over the past 10 years.

Dividend Growth Potential

While dividend payments have been relatively reliable, it would also be nice if earnings per share (EPS) were growing, as this is essential to maintaining the dividend's purchasing power over the long term. Strong earnings per share (EPS) growth might encourage our interest in the company despite fluctuating dividends, which is why it's great to see SM Energy has grown its earnings per share at 21% per annum over the past five years.

Conclusion

When we look at a dividend stock, we need to form a judgement on whether the dividend will grow, if the company is able to maintain it in a wide range of economic circumstances, and if the dividend payout is sustainable. We're not keen on the fact that SM Energy paid dividends despite reporting a loss over the past year, although fortunately its dividend was covered by cash flow. That said, we were glad to see it growing earnings and paying a fairly consistent dividend. Overall we think SM Energy is an interesting dividend stock, although it could be better.

Market movements attest to how highly valued a consistent dividend policy is compared to one which is more unpredictable. Still, investors need to consider a host of other factors, apart from dividend payments, when analysing a company. For example, we've picked out 1 warning sign for SM Energy that investors should know about before committing capital to this stock.

Looking for more high-yielding dividend ideas? Try our curated list of dividend stocks with a yield above 3%.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. 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.
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