Robert Walters' (LON:RWA) Dividend Will Be Increased To £0.17

Robert Walters plc (LON:RWA) will increase its dividend from last year's comparable payment on the 26th of May to £0.17. This makes the dividend yield 4.2%, which is above the industry average.

Check out our latest analysis for Robert Walters

Robert Walters' Payment Has Solid Earnings Coverage

If the payments aren't sustainable, a high yield for a few years won't matter that much. The last dividend was quite comfortably covered by Robert Walters' earnings, but it was a bit tighter on the cash flow front. The company is clearly earning enough to pay this type of dividend, but it is definitely focused on returning cash to shareholders, rather than growing the business.

Looking forward, earnings per share is forecast to rise by 15.5% over the next year. If the dividend continues along recent trends, we estimate the payout ratio will be 45%, which is in the range that makes us comfortable with the sustainability of the dividend.

Dividend Volatility

While the company has been paying a dividend for a long time, it has cut the dividend at least once in the last 10 years. Since 2013, the dividend has gone from £0.0515 total annually to £0.235. This implies that the company grew its distributions at a yearly rate of about 16% over that duration. Despite the rapid growth in the dividend over the past number of years, we have seen the payments go down the past as well, so that makes us cautious.

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. Earnings has been rising at 4.0% per annum over the last five years, which admittedly is a bit slow. Growth of 4.0% per annum is not particularly high, which might explain why the company is paying out a higher proportion of earnings. This isn't necessarily bad, but we wouldn't expect rapid dividend growth in the future.

In Summary

In summary, while it's always good to see the dividend being raised, we don't think Robert Walters' payments are rock solid. While Robert Walters is earning enough to cover the dividend, we are generally unimpressed with its future prospects. This company is not in the top tier of income providing stocks.

Companies possessing a stable dividend policy will likely enjoy greater investor interest than those suffering from a more inconsistent approach. However, there are other things to consider for investors when analysing stock performance. To that end, Robert Walters has 3 warning signs (and 1 which doesn't sit too well with us) we think you should know about. If you are a dividend investor, you might also want to look at our curated list of high yield 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.