Mapfre (BME:MAP) Is Due To Pay A Dividend Of €0.0486

The board of Mapfre, S.A. (BME:MAP) has announced that it will pay a dividend on the 30th of November, with investors receiving €0.0486 per share. This means the annual payment is 8.0% of the current stock price, which is above the average for the industry.

Our analysis indicates that MAP is potentially undervalued!

Mapfre's Earnings Easily Cover The Distributions

Impressive dividend yields are good, but this doesn't matter much if the payments can't be sustained. Prior to this announcement, Mapfre's dividend was only 60% of earnings, however it was paying out 464% of free cash flows. While the company may be more focused on returning cash to shareholders than growing the business at this time, we think that a cash payout ratio this high might expose the dividend to being cut if the business ran into some challenges.

Over the next year, EPS is forecast to expand by 8.2%. If the dividend continues on this path, the payout ratio could be 45% by next year, which we think can be pretty sustainable going forward.

Dividend Volatility

The company has a long dividend track record, but it doesn't look great with cuts in the past. Since 2012, the dividend has gone from €0.15 total annually to €0.146. The dividend has shrunk at a rate of less than 1% a year over this period. Declining dividends isn't generally what we look for as they can indicate that the company is running into some challenges.

Dividend Growth May Be Hard To Achieve

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. However, Mapfre has only grown its earnings per share at 3.3% per annum over the past five years. The company has been growing at a pretty soft 3.3% per annum, and is paying out quite a lot of its earnings to shareholders. This isn't bad in itself, but unless earnings growth pick up we wouldn't expect dividends to grow either.

In Summary

Overall, we don't think this company makes a great dividend stock, even though the dividend wasn't cut this year. With cash flows lacking, it is difficult to see how the company can sustain a dividend payment. We don't think Mapfre is a great stock to add to your portfolio if income is your focus.

Market movements attest to how highly valued a consistent dividend policy is compared to one which is more unpredictable. 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 1 warning sign for Mapfre 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.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.

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.