Melexis (EBR:MELE) Will Pay A Dividend Of €0.91

The board of Melexis NV (EBR:MELE) has announced that it will pay a dividend on the 20th of October, with investors receiving €0.91 per share. Based on this payment, the dividend yield on the company's stock will be 3.1%, which is an attractive boost to shareholder returns.

Check out our latest analysis for Melexis

Melexis' Earnings Easily Cover The Distributions

If the payments aren't sustainable, a high yield for a few years won't matter that much. However, prior to this announcement, Melexis was quite comfortably covering its dividend with earnings and it was paying more than 75% of its free cash flow to shareholders. However, with more than 75% of free cash flow being paid out to shareholders, future growth could potentially be constrained.

The next year is set to see EPS grow by 26.9%. Assuming the dividend continues along recent trends, we think the payout ratio could be 35% by next year, which is in a pretty sustainable range.

Dividend Volatility

The company has a long dividend track record, but it doesn't look great with cuts in the past. The annual payment during the last 10 years was €0.60 in 2012, and the most recent fiscal year payment was €2.60. This means that it has been growing its distributions at 16% per annum over that time. It is great to see strong growth in the dividend payments, but cuts are concerning as it may indicate the payout policy is too ambitious.

Melexis Could Grow Its Dividend

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 Melexis has grown earnings per share at 9.3% per year over the past five years. A low payout ratio and decent growth suggests that the company is reinvesting well, and it also has plenty of room to increase the dividend over time.

In Summary

Overall, we don't think this company makes a great dividend stock, even though the dividend wasn't cut this year. The low payout ratio is a redeeming feature, but generally we are not too happy with the payments Melexis has been making. We don't think Melexis is a great stock to add to your portfolio if income is your focus.

Companies possessing a stable dividend policy will likely enjoy greater investor interest than those suffering from a more inconsistent approach. Meanwhile, despite the importance of dividend payments, they are not the only factors our readers should know when assessing a company. For example, we've picked out 1 warning sign for Melexis that investors should know about before committing capital to this stock. Looking for more high-yielding dividend ideas? Try our collection of strong dividend payers.

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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.