Why Galliford Try plc (LON:GFRD) Should Be In Your Portfolio

Over the past 10 years Galliford Try plc (LON:GFRD) has been paying dividends to shareholders. The company is currently worth UK£863m, and now yields roughly 9.2%. Should it have a place in your portfolio? Let's take a look at Galliford Try in more detail.

View our latest analysis for Galliford Try

Here's how I find good dividend stocks

If you are a dividend investor, you should always assess these five key metrics:

• Is its annual yield among the top 25% of dividend-paying companies?
• Has it paid dividend every year without dramatically reducing payout in the past?
• Has it increased its dividend per share amount over the past?
• Is is able to pay the current rate of dividends from its earnings?
• Based on future earnings growth, will it be able to continue to payout dividend at the current rate?

Does Galliford Try pass our checks?

The company currently pays out 70% of its earnings as a dividend, according to its trailing twelve-month data, meaning the dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. In the near future, analysts are predicting lower payout ratio of 50% which, assuming the share price stays the same, leads to a dividend yield of around 9.1%. However, EPS should increase to £1.24, meaning that the lower payout ratio does not necessarily implicate a lower dividend payment.

If you want to dive deeper into the sustainability of a certain payout ratio, you may wish to consider the cash flow of the business. Companies with strong cash flow can sustain a higher payout ratio, while companies with weaker cash flow generally cannot.

If dividend is a key criteria in your investment consideration, then you need to make sure the dividend stock you're eyeing out is reliable in its payments. Although GFRD's per share payments have increased in the past 10 years, it has not been a completely smooth ride. Shareholders would have seen a few years of reduced payments in this time.

In terms of its peers, Galliford Try has a yield of 9.2%, which is high for Construction stocks.

Next Steps:

Considering the dividend attributes we analyzed above, Galliford Try is definitely worth keeping an eye on for someone looking to build a dedicated income portfolio. 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 pertinent factors you should look at:

1. Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for GFRD’s future growth? Take a look at our free research report of analyst consensus for GFRD’s outlook.
2. Valuation: What is GFRD 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 GFRD is currently mispriced by the market.
3. Other Dividend Rockstars: Are there better dividend payers with stronger fundamentals out there? Check out our free list of these great stocks here.

We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.

If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.