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 Weis Markets, Inc. (NYSE:WMK) is about to go ex-dividend in just 3 days. If you purchase the stock on or after the 24th of July, you won’t be eligible to receive this dividend, when it is paid on the 10th of August.
Weis Markets’s next dividend payment will be US$0.31 per share, and in the last 12 months, the company paid a total of US$1.24 per share. Last year’s total dividend payments show that Weis Markets has a trailing yield of 2.4% on the current share price of $50.71. Dividends are an important source of income to many shareholders, but the health of the business is crucial to maintaining those dividends. That’s why we should always check whether the dividend payments appear sustainable, and if the company is growing.
Check out our latest analysis for Weis Markets
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. Fortunately Weis Markets’s payout ratio is modest, at just 42% of profit. 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. It paid out 21% of its free cash flow as dividends last year, which is conservatively low.
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 how much of its profit Weis Markets paid out over the last 12 months.
Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?
Stocks in companies that generate sustainable earnings growth often make the best dividend prospects, as it is easier to lift the dividend when earnings are rising. If business enters a downturn and the dividend is cut, the company could see its value fall precipitously. This is why it’s a relief to see Weis Markets earnings per share are up 8.1% per annum over the last five years. The company is retaining more than half of its earnings within the business, and it has been growing earnings at a decent rate. We think this is generally an attractive combination, as dividends can grow through a combination of earnings growth and or a higher payout ratio over time.
Another key way to measure a company’s dividend prospects is by measuring its historical rate of dividend growth. Weis Markets has delivered 0.7% dividend growth per year on average over the past ten years.
To Sum It Up
From a dividend perspective, should investors buy or avoid Weis Markets? Earnings per share growth has been growing somewhat, and Weis Markets is paying out less than half its earnings and cash flow as dividends. This is interesting for a few reasons, as it suggests management may be reinvesting heavily in the business, but it also provides room to increase the dividend in time. It might be nice to see earnings growing faster, but Weis Markets is being conservative with its dividend payouts and could still perform reasonably over the long run. Overall we think this is an attractive combination and worthy of further research.
Want to learn more about Weis Markets’s dividend performance? Check out this visualisation of its historical revenue and earnings growth.
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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