Some investors rely on dividends for growing their wealth, and if you’re one of those dividend sleuths, you might be intrigued to know that Orrstown Financial Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:ORRF) is about to go ex-dividend in just three days. Investors can purchase shares before the 31st of July in order to be eligible for this dividend, which will be paid on the 10th of August.
Orrstown Financial Services’s next dividend payment will be US$0.17 per share. Last year, in total, the company distributed US$0.68 to shareholders. Looking at the last 12 months of distributions, Orrstown Financial Services has a trailing yield of approximately 4.9% on its current stock price of $13.92. 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! That’s why we should always check whether the dividend payments appear sustainable, and if the company is growing.
See our latest analysis for Orrstown Financial Services
If a company pays out more in dividends than it earned, then the dividend might become unsustainable – hardly an ideal situation. Orrstown Financial Services paid out a comfortable 31% of its profit last year.
When a company paid out less in dividends than it earned in profit, this generally suggests its dividend is affordable. The lower the % of its profit that it pays out, the greater the margin of safety for the dividend if the business enters a downturn.
Click here to see the company’s payout ratio, plus analyst estimates of its future dividends.
Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?
Businesses with shrinking earnings are tricky from a dividend perspective. 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 discomforted by Orrstown Financial Services’s 11% per annum decline in earnings in the past five years. Ultimately, when earnings per share decline, the size of the pie from which dividends can be paid, shrinks.
Many investors will assess a company’s dividend performance by evaluating how much the dividend payments have changed over time. Orrstown Financial Services’s dividend payments per share have declined at 2.5% per year on average over the past 10 years, which is uninspiring. While it’s not great that earnings and dividends per share have fallen in recent years, we’re encouraged by the fact that management has trimmed the dividend rather than risk over-committing the company in a risky attempt to maintain yields to shareholders.
To Sum It Up
Should investors buy Orrstown Financial Services for the upcoming dividend? Earnings per share have shrunk noticeably in recent years, although we like that the company has a low payout ratio. This could suggest a cut to the dividend may not be a major risk in the near future. It might be worth researching if the company is reinvesting in growth projects that could grow earnings and dividends in the future, but for now we’re on the fence about its dividend prospects.
If you want to look further into Orrstown Financial Services, it’s worth knowing the risks this business faces. For example, Orrstown Financial Services has 2 warning signs (and 1 which is significant) we think you should know about.
A common investment mistake is buying the first interesting stock you see. Here you can find a list of promising dividend stocks with a greater than 2% yield and an upcoming dividend.
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