There's A Lot To Like About Chemung Financial Corporation's (NASDAQ:CHMG) Upcoming US$0.26 Dividend

Regular readers will know that we love our dividends at Simply Wall St, which is why it's exciting to see Chemung Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:CHMG) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next 3 days. You can purchase shares before the 20th of December in order to receive the dividend, which the company will pay on the 2nd of January.

Chemung Financial's next dividend payment will be US$0.26 per share. Last year, in total, the company distributed US$1.04 to shareholders. Based on the last year's worth of payments, Chemung Financial stock has a trailing yield of around 2.3% on the current share price of $44.5. Dividends are an important source of income to many shareholders, but the health of the business is crucial to maintaining those dividends. As a result, readers should always check whether Chemung Financial has been able to grow its dividends, or if the dividend might be cut.

See our latest analysis for Chemung Financial

Dividends are typically paid from company earnings. If a company pays more in dividends than it earned in profit, then the dividend could be unsustainable. Chemung Financial paid out a comfortable 30% of its profit last year.

Companies that pay out less in dividends than they earn in profits generally have more sustainable dividends. The lower the payout ratio, the more wiggle room the business has before it could be forced to cut the dividend.

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. For this reason, we're glad to see Chemung Financial's earnings per share have risen 13% per annum over the last five years.

The main way most investors will assess a company's dividend prospects is by checking the historical rate of dividend growth. Chemung Financial's dividend payments are broadly unchanged compared to where they were ten years ago.

To Sum It Up

Should investors buy Chemung Financial for the upcoming dividend? Companies like Chemung Financial that are growing rapidly and paying out a low fraction of earnings, are usually reinvesting heavily in their business. This is one of the most attractive investment combinations under this analysis, as it can create substantial value for investors over the long run. Chemung Financial ticks a lot of boxes for us from a dividend perspective, and we think these characteristics should mark the company as deserving of further attention.

Wondering what the future holds for Chemung Financial? See what the two analysts we track are forecasting, with this visualisation of its historical and future estimated earnings and cash flow

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.

If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. 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. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned.

We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Thank you for reading.