Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Stock Goes Ex-Dividend In Just Four Days

It looks like Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) is about to go ex-dividend in the next 4 days. If you purchase the stock on or after the 29th of September, you won't be eligible to receive this dividend, when it is paid on the 15th of October.

Lincoln Electric Holdings's next dividend payment will be US$0.49 per share, on the back of last year when the company paid a total of US$1.96 to shareholders. Calculating the last year's worth of payments shows that Lincoln Electric Holdings has a trailing yield of 2.2% on the current share price of $87.64. Dividends are an important source of income to many shareholders, but the health of the business is crucial to maintaining those dividends. So we need to investigate whether Lincoln Electric Holdings can afford its dividend, and if the dividend could grow.

View our latest analysis for Lincoln Electric Holdings

If a company pays out more in dividends than it earned, then the dividend might become unsustainable - hardly an ideal situation. Lincoln Electric Holdings paid out 54% of its earnings to investors last year, a normal payout level for most businesses. Yet cash flow is typically more important than profit for assessing dividend sustainability, so we should always check if the company generated enough cash to afford its dividend. It distributed 37% of its free cash flow as dividends, a comfortable payout level for most companies.

It's encouraging to see that the dividend is covered by both profit and cash flow. This generally suggests the dividend is sustainable, as long as earnings don't drop precipitously.

Click here to see the company's payout ratio, plus analyst estimates of its future dividends.

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. Investors love dividends, so if earnings fall and the dividend is reduced, expect a stock to be sold off heavily at the same time. With that in mind, we're encouraged by the steady growth at Lincoln Electric Holdings, with earnings per share up 2.4% on average over the last five years. Earnings growth has been slim and the company is paying out more than half of its earnings. While there is some room to both increase the payout ratio and reinvest in the business, generally the higher a payout ratio goes, the lower a company's prospects for future growth.

The main way most investors will assess a company's dividend prospects is by checking the historical rate of dividend growth. In the last 10 years, Lincoln Electric Holdings has lifted its dividend by approximately 13% a year on average. We're glad to see dividends rising alongside earnings over a number of years, which may be a sign the company intends to share the growth with shareholders.

To Sum It Up

Is Lincoln Electric Holdings an attractive dividend stock, or better left on the shelf? Earnings per share growth has been modest and Lincoln Electric Holdings paid out over half of its profits and less than half of its free cash flow, although both payout ratios are within normal limits. In summary, while it has some positive characteristics, we're not inclined to race out and buy Lincoln Electric Holdings today.

So while Lincoln Electric Holdings looks good from a dividend perspective, it's always worthwhile being up to date with the risks involved in this stock. Every company has risks, and we've spotted 2 warning signs for Lincoln Electric Holdings you should know about.

If you're in the market for dividend stocks, we recommend checking our list of top dividend stocks with a greater than 2% yield and an upcoming dividend.

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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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