Akwel SA (EPA:AKW) Goes Ex-Dividend Soon

Akwel SA (EPA:AKW) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next four days. The ex-dividend date is two business days before a company's record date in most cases, which is the date on which the company determines which shareholders are entitled to receive a dividend. The ex-dividend date is important as the process of settlement involves at least two full business days. So if you miss that date, you would not show up on the company's books on the record date. Meaning, you will need to purchase Akwel's shares before the 30th of June to receive the dividend, which will be paid on the 2nd of July.

The company's next dividend payment will be €0.30 per share, on the back of last year when the company paid a total of €0.30 to shareholders. Based on the last year's worth of payments, Akwel stock has a trailing yield of around 3.8% on the current share price of €8.00. Dividends are an important source of income to many shareholders, but the health of the business is crucial to maintaining those dividends. We need to see whether the dividend is covered by earnings and if it's growing.

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If a company pays out more in dividends than it earned, then the dividend might become unsustainable - hardly an ideal situation. Fortunately Akwel's payout ratio is modest, at just 33% of profit. A useful secondary check can be to evaluate whether Akwel generated enough free cash flow to afford its dividend. It paid out 16% of its free cash flow as dividends last year, which is conservatively low.

It's encouraging to see that the dividend is covered by both profit and cash flow. This generally suggests the dividend is sustainable, as long as earnings don't drop precipitously.

See our latest analysis for Akwel

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

Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?

Companies with falling earnings are riskier for dividend shareholders. Investors love dividends, so if earnings fall and the dividend is reduced, expect a stock to be sold off heavily at the same time. Akwel's earnings per share have fallen at approximately 17% a year over the previous five years. Such a sharp decline casts doubt on the future sustainability of the dividend.

Many investors will assess a company's dividend performance by evaluating how much the dividend payments have changed over time. In the past 10 years, Akwel has increased its dividend at approximately 20% a year on average.

Final Takeaway

Is Akwel worth buying for its dividend? Akwel has comfortably low cash and profit payout ratios, which may mean the dividend is sustainable even in the face of a sharp decline in earnings per share. Still, we consider declining earnings to be a warning sign. All things considered, we are not particularly enthused about Akwel from a dividend perspective.

With that in mind, a critical part of thorough stock research is being aware of any risks that stock currently faces. To help with this, we've discovered 1 warning sign for Akwel 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.