Beacon Lighting Group's (ASX:BLX) Dividend Will Be Increased To AU$0.046

The board of Beacon Lighting Group Limited (ASX:BLX) has announced that it will be increasing its dividend on the 21st of September to AU$0.046. This takes the annual payment to 4.0% of the current stock price, which is about average for the industry.

View our latest analysis for Beacon Lighting Group

Beacon Lighting Group's Earnings Easily Cover the Distributions

While it is always good to see a solid dividend yield, we should also consider whether the payment is feasible. Based on the last payment, Beacon Lighting Group was quite comfortably earning enough to cover the dividend. This indicates that a lot of the earnings are being reinvested into the business, with the aim of fueling growth.

Over the next year, EPS is forecast to fall by 29.1%. However, if the dividend continues along recent trends, we estimate the payout ratio could reach 80%, meaning that most of the company's earnings are being paid out to shareholders.

Beacon Lighting Group's Dividend Has Lacked Consistency

Looking back, Beacon Lighting Group's dividend hasn't been particularly consistent. Due to this, we are a little bit cautious about the dividend consistency over a full economic cycle. The dividend has gone from AU$0.014 in 2014 to the most recent annual payment of AU$0.088. This implies that the company grew its distributions at a yearly rate of about 30% over that duration. Despite the rapid growth in the dividend over the past number of years, we have seen the payments go down the past as well, so that makes us cautious.

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. We are encouraged to see that Beacon Lighting Group has grown earnings per share at 15% per year over the past five years. Shareholders are getting plenty of the earnings returned to them, which combined with strong growth makes this quite appealing.

We Really Like Beacon Lighting Group's Dividend

In summary, it is always positive to see the dividend being increased, and we are particularly pleased with its overall sustainability. The earnings easily cover the company's distributions, and the company is generating plenty of cash. If earnings do fall over the next 12 months, the dividend could be buffeted a little bit, but we don't think it should cause too much of a problem in the long term. All in all, this checks a lot of the boxes we look for when choosing an income stock.

Companies possessing a stable dividend policy will likely enjoy greater investor interest than those suffering from a more inconsistent approach. Still, investors need to consider a host of other factors, apart from dividend payments, when analysing a company. Case in point: We've spotted 2 warning signs for Beacon Lighting Group (of which 1 makes us a bit uncomfortable!) you should know about. If you are a dividend investor, you might also want to look at our curated list of high performing dividend stock.

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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.
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