Clover (ASX:CLV) Will Pay A Dividend Of A$0.01

Clover Corporation Limited (ASX:CLV) has announced that it will pay a dividend of A$0.01 per share on the 22nd of November. This means the annual payment will be 1.6% of the current stock price, which is lower than the industry average.

View our latest analysis for Clover

Clover's Earnings Easily Cover The Distributions

Even a low dividend yield can be attractive if it is sustained for years on end. Based on the last payment, Clover was paying only paying out a fraction of earnings, but the payment was a massive 234% of cash flows. While the business may be attempting to set a balanced dividend policy, a cash payout ratio this high might expose the dividend to being cut if the business ran into some challenges.

Looking forward, earnings per share is forecast to rise by 114.7% over the next year. If the dividend continues along recent trends, we estimate the payout ratio will be 24%, which is in the range that makes us comfortable with the sustainability of the dividend.

Dividend Volatility

The company's dividend history has been marked by instability, with at least one cut in the last 10 years. Since 2012, the annual payment back then was A$0.0175, compared to the most recent full-year payment of A$0.02. This means that it has been growing its distributions at 1.3% per annum over that time. The dividend has seen some fluctuations in the past, so even though the dividend was raised this year, we should remember that it has been cut in the past.

The Dividend Looks Likely To Grow

With a relatively unstable dividend, it's even more important to evaluate if earnings per share is growing, which could point to a growing dividend in the future. Clover has impressed us by growing EPS at 17% per year over the past five years. Clover definitely has the potential to grow its dividend in the future with earnings on an uptrend and a low payout ratio.

In Summary

Overall, it's nice to see a consistent dividend payment, but we think that longer term, the current level of payment might be unsustainable. While Clover is earning enough to cover the payments, the cash flows are lacking. This company is not in the top tier of income providing stocks.

Investors generally tend to favour companies with a consistent, stable dividend policy as opposed to those operating an irregular one. At the same time, there are other factors our readers should be conscious of before pouring capital into a stock. For example, we've picked out 2 warning signs for Clover that investors should know about before committing capital to this stock. If you are a dividend investor, you might also want to look at our curated list of high yield dividend stocks.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. 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.