Marwest Apartment Real Estate Investment Trust (CVE:MAR.UN) Has Affirmed Its Dividend Of CA$0.0013

The board of Marwest Apartment Real Estate Investment Trust (CVE:MAR.UN) has announced that it will pay a dividend on the 15th of January, with investors receiving CA$0.0013 per share. This means the dividend yield will be fairly typical at 2.1%.

View our latest analysis for Marwest Apartment Real Estate Investment Trust

Marwest Apartment Real Estate Investment Trust's Projected Earnings Seem Likely To Cover Future Distributions

We like to see a healthy dividend yield, but that is only helpful to us if the payment can continue. Before making this announcement, Marwest Apartment Real Estate Investment Trust was easily earning enough to cover the dividend. This means that most of its earnings are being retained to grow the business.

Looking forward, EPS could fall by 4.1% if the company can't turn things around from the last few years. Assuming the dividend continues along recent trends, we believe the payout ratio could be 1.8%, which we are pretty comfortable with and we think is feasible on an earnings basis.

Marwest Apartment Real Estate Investment Trust Doesn't Have A Long Payment History

The dividend has been pretty stable looking back, but the company hasn't been paying one for very long. This makes it tough to judge how it would fare through a full economic cycle. The annual payment during the last 3 years was CA$0.015 in 2021, and the most recent fiscal year payment was CA$0.0156. This means that it has been growing its distributions at 1.3% per annum over that time. Marwest Apartment Real Estate Investment Trust hasn't been paying a dividend for very long, so we wouldn't get to excited about its record of growth just yet.

Dividend Growth May Be Hard To Achieve

Some investors will be chomping at the bit to buy some of the company's stock based on its dividend history. However, initial appearances might be deceiving. Marwest Apartment Real Estate Investment Trust has seen earnings per share falling at 4.1% per year over the last three years. If earnings continue declining, the company may have to make the difficult choice of reducing the dividend or even stopping it completely - the opposite of dividend growth.

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. The company is generating plenty of cash, which could maintain the dividend for a while, but the track record hasn't been great. We would probably look elsewhere for an income investment.

Market movements attest to how highly valued a consistent dividend policy is compared to one which is more unpredictable. However, there are other things to consider for investors when analysing stock performance. Case in point: We've spotted 3 warning signs for Marwest Apartment Real Estate Investment Trust (of which 1 is a bit unpleasant!) you should know about. 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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