3 Days Left To Cash In On Keyera Corp (TSE:KEY) Dividend,

Shares of Keyera Corp (TSE:KEY) will begin trading ex-dividend in 3 days. To qualify for the dividend check of CA$0.15 per share, investors must have owned the shares prior to 19 October 2018, which is the last day the company's management will finalize their list of shareholders to which they will send dividend payments. Is this future income a persuasive enough catalyst for investors to think about Keyera as an investment today? Below, I'm going to look at the latest data and analyze the stock and its dividend property in further detail.

Check out our latest analysis for Keyera

5 questions I ask before picking a dividend stock

Whenever I am looking at a potential dividend stock investment, I always check these five metrics:

• Is it the top 25% annual dividend yield payer?
• Has it consistently paid a stable dividend without missing a payment or drastically cutting payout?
• Has it increased its dividend per share amount over the past?
• Does earnings amply cover its dividend payments?
• Will it be able to continue to payout at the current rate in the future?

How does Keyera fare?

The current trailing twelve-month payout ratio for KEY is 104%, which means that the dividend is not well-covered by its earnings. Going forward, analysts expect KEY's payout to remain around the same level at 103% of its earnings, which leads to a dividend yield of 5.3%. In addition to this, EPS should increase to CA$1.81.

When considering the sustainability of dividends, it is also worth checking the cash flow of a company. Cash flow is important because companies with strong cash flow can usually sustain higher payout ratios.

If there is one thing that you want to be reliable in your life, it's dividend stocks and their constant income stream. In the case of KEY it has increased its DPS from CA$0.90 to CA$1.8 in the past 10 years. It has also been paying out dividend consistently during this time, as you'd expect for a company increasing its dividend levels. These are all positive signs of a great, reliable dividend stock.

Relative to peers, Keyera produces a yield of 5.2%, which is high for Oil and Gas stocks but still below the market's top dividend payers.

Next Steps:

If Keyera is in your portfolio for cash-generating reasons, there may be better alternatives out there. However, if you are not strictly just a dividend investor, the stock could still offer some interesting investment opportunities. Given that this is purely a dividend analysis, you should always research extensively before deciding whether or not a stock is an appropriate investment for you. I always recommend analysing the company's fundamentals and underlying business before making an investment decision. I've put together three key factors you should further examine:

1. Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for KEY’s future growth? Take a look at our free research report of analyst consensus for KEY’s outlook.
2. Valuation: What is KEY worth today? Even if the stock is a cash cow, it's not worth an infinite price. The intrinsic value infographic in our free research report helps visualize whether KEY is currently mispriced by the market.
3. Dividend Rockstars: Are there better dividend payers with stronger fundamentals out there? Check out our free list of these great stocks here.

To help readers see past the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements.

The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned. For errors that warrant correction please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com.

Simply Wall St analyst Simply Wall St and Simply Wall St have no position in any of the companies mentioned. This article 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.