Is It Smart To Buy Fiducial Real Estate SA (EPA:ORIA) Before It Goes Ex-Dividend?

Fiducial Real Estate SA (EPA:ORIA) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next three days. The ex-dividend date generally occurs two days 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 an important date to be aware of as any purchase of the stock made on or after this date might mean a late settlement that doesn't show on the record date. Thus, you can purchase Fiducial Real Estate's shares before the 14th of May in order to receive the dividend, which the company will pay on the 16th of May.

The company's next dividend payment will be €3.60 per share. Last year, in total, the company distributed €3.30 to shareholders. Calculating the last year's worth of payments shows that Fiducial Real Estate has a trailing yield of 2.1% on the current share price of €174.00. 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. Fiducial Real Estate paid out a comfortable 27% of its profit last year. Yet cash flow is typically more important than profit for assessing dividend sustainability, so we should always check if the company generated enough cash to afford its dividend. Thankfully its dividend payments took up just 28% of the free cash flow it generated, which is a comfortable payout ratio.

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.

Check out our latest analysis for Fiducial Real Estate

Click here to see how much of its profit Fiducial Real Estate paid out over the last 12 months.

Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?

Companies that aren't growing their earnings can still be valuable, but it is even more important to assess the sustainability of the dividend if it looks like the company will struggle to grow. If earnings fall far enough, the company could be forced to cut its dividend. With that in mind, we're not enthused to see that Fiducial Real Estate's earnings per share have remained effectively flat over the past five years. Better than seeing them fall off a cliff, for sure, but the best dividend stocks grow their earnings meaningfully over the long run. Recent earnings growth has been limited. Yet there are several ways to grow the dividend, and one of them is simply that the company may choose to pay out more of its earnings as dividends.

Another key way to measure a company's dividend prospects is by measuring its historical rate of dividend growth. Since the start of our data, 10 years ago, Fiducial Real Estate has lifted its dividend by approximately 22% a year on average.

To Sum It Up

From a dividend perspective, should investors buy or avoid Fiducial Real Estate? The company has barely grown earnings per share over this time, but at least it's paying out a decently low percentage of its earnings and cashflow as dividends. This could suggest management is reinvesting in future growth opportunities. Generally we like to see both low payout ratios and strong earnings per share growth, but Fiducial Real Estate is halfway there. Overall we think this is an attractive combination and worthy of further research.

Curious about whether Fiducial Real Estate has been able to consistently generate growth? Here's a chart of its historical revenue and earnings growth.

Generally, we wouldn't recommend just buying the first dividend stock you see. Here's a curated list of interesting stocks that are strong dividend payers.

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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.