Should Income Investors Look At Terveystalo Oyj (HEL:TTALO) Before Its Ex-Dividend?

Regular readers will know that we love our dividends at Simply Wall St, which is why it's exciting to see Terveystalo Oyj (HEL:TTALO) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next 4 days. The ex-dividend date occurs one day before the record date which is the day on which shareholders need to be on the company's books in order to receive a dividend. The ex-dividend date is important because any transaction on a stock needs to have been settled before the record date in order to be eligible for a dividend. Therefore, if you purchase Terveystalo Oyj's shares on or after the 24th of March, you won't be eligible to receive the dividend, when it is paid on the 3rd of April.

The company's upcoming dividend is €0.14 a share, following on from the last 12 months, when the company distributed a total of €0.28 per share to shareholders. Calculating the last year's worth of payments shows that Terveystalo Oyj has a trailing yield of 4.1% on the current share price of €6.81. Dividends are an important source of income to many shareholders, but the health of the business is crucial to maintaining those dividends. So we need to check whether the dividend payments are covered, and if earnings are growing.

See our latest analysis for Terveystalo Oyj

Dividends are usually paid out of company profits, so if a company pays out more than it earned then its dividend is usually at greater risk of being cut. Terveystalo Oyj distributed an unsustainably high 145% of its profit as dividends to shareholders last year. Without extenuating circumstances, we'd consider the dividend at risk of a cut. Yet cash flows are even more important than profits for assessing a dividend, so we need to see if the company generated enough cash to pay its distribution. It distributed 43% of its free cash flow as dividends, a comfortable payout level for most companies.

It's disappointing to see that the dividend was not covered by profits, but cash is more important from a dividend sustainability perspective, and Terveystalo Oyj fortunately did generate enough cash to fund its dividend. If executives were to continue paying more in dividends than the company reported in profits, we'd view this as a warning sign. Very few companies are able to sustainably pay dividends larger than their reported earnings.

Click here to see the company's payout ratio, plus analyst estimates of its future dividends.

Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?

Businesses with strong growth prospects usually make the best dividend payers, because it's easier to grow dividends when earnings per share are improving. If earnings decline and the company is forced to cut its dividend, investors could watch the value of their investment go up in smoke. It's encouraging to see Terveystalo Oyj has grown its earnings rapidly, up 26% a year for the past five years.

Many investors will assess a company's dividend performance by evaluating how much the dividend payments have changed over time. Terveystalo Oyj has delivered an average of 36% per year annual increase in its dividend, based on the past five years of dividend payments. It's great to see earnings per share growing rapidly over several years, and dividends per share growing right along with it.

The Bottom Line

Is Terveystalo Oyj an attractive dividend stock, or better left on the shelf? Earnings per share have been rising nicely although, even though its cashflow payout ratio is low, we question why Terveystalo Oyj is paying out so much of its profit. In summary, it's hard to get excited about Terveystalo Oyj from a dividend perspective.

So while Terveystalo Oyj looks good from a dividend perspective, it's always worthwhile being up to date with the risks involved in this stock. To help with this, we've discovered 4 warning signs for Terveystalo Oyj that you should be aware of before investing in their shares.

If you're in the market for strong dividend payers, we recommend checking our selection of top dividend stocks.

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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.