Should Income Investors Buy 3i Infrastructure plc (LON:3IN) Before Its Ex-Dividend?

If you are interested in cashing in on 3i Infrastructure plc's (LSE:3IN) upcoming dividend of £0.41 per share, you only have 9 days left to buy the shares before its ex-dividend date, 15 March 2018, in time for dividends payable on the 29 March 2018. What does this mean for current shareholders and potential investors? Below, I will explain how holding 3i Infrastructure can impact your portfolio income stream, by analysing the stock's most recent financial data and dividend attributes. View our latest analysis for 3i Infrastructure

5 questions I ask before picking a dividend stock

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

• Does it pay an annual yield higher than 75% of dividend payers?
• Has it consistently paid a stable dividend without missing a payment or drastically cutting payout?
• Has the amount of dividend per share grown over the past?
• Is it able to pay the current rate of dividends from its earnings?
• Will the company be able to keep paying dividend based on the future earnings growth?

Does 3i Infrastructure pass our checks?

The company currently pays out 40.89% 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 a higher payout ratio of 56.98%, leading to a dividend yield of around 4.09%. Reliablity is an important factor for dividend stocks, particularly for income investors who want a strong track record of payment and a positive outlook for future payout. Whilst its per-share payments have increased during the past 10 years, there has been some hiccups. Investors have seen reductions in the dividend per share in the past, although, it has picked up again. Relative to peers, 3i Infrastructure produces a yield of 3.98%, which is high for Capital Markets stocks.

Next Steps:

Considering the dividend attributes we analyzed above, 3i Infrastructure is definitely worth keeping an eye on for someone looking to build a dedicated income portfolio. Given that this is purely a dividend analysis, I urge potential investors to try and get a good understanding of the underlying business and its fundamentals before deciding on an investment. Below, I've compiled three important factors you should further research:

1. Valuation: What is 3IN 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 3IN is currently mispriced by the market.
2. Management Team: An experienced management team on the helm increases our confidence in the business – take a look at who sits on 3i Infrastructure’s board and the CEO’s back ground.
3. Other Dividend Rockstars: Are there better dividend payers with stronger fundamentals out there? Check out our free list of these great stocks here.

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Simply Wall St analyst Simply Wall St and Simply Wall St have no position in any of the companies mentioned. This article 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.