Ashmore Group's (LON:ASHM) Dividend Will Be £0.121

The board of Ashmore Group Plc (LON:ASHM) has announced that it will pay a dividend of £0.121 per share on the 6th of December. This means the annual payment is 9.7% of the current stock price, which is above the average for the industry.

See our latest analysis for Ashmore Group

Ashmore Group's Future Dividends May Potentially Be At Risk

If the payments aren't sustainable, a high yield for a few years won't matter that much. Before making this announcement, the company's dividend was much higher than its earnings. Without profits and cash flows increasing, it would be difficult for the company to continue paying the dividend at this level.

EPS is set to fall by 22.8% over the next 12 months. If the dividend continues along the path it has been on recently, the payout ratio in 12 months could be 155%, which is definitely a bit high to be sustainable going forward.

Ashmore Group Has A Solid Track Record

The company has an extended history of paying stable dividends. The dividend has gone from an annual total of £0.161 in 2014 to the most recent total annual payment of £0.169. Dividend payments have been growing, but very slowly over the period. Dividends have grown relatively slowly, which is not great, but some investors may value the relative consistency of the dividend.

The Dividend Has Limited Growth Potential

Investors could be attracted to the stock based on the quality of its payment history. However, things aren't all that rosy. Ashmore Group's EPS has fallen by approximately 12% per year during the past five years. Such rapid declines definitely have the potential to constrain dividend payments if the trend continues into the future.

Ashmore Group's Dividend Doesn't Look Sustainable

In summary, while it's good to see that the dividend hasn't been cut, we are a bit cautious about Ashmore Group's payments, as there could be some issues with sustaining them into the future. We can't deny that the payments have been very stable, but we are a little bit worried about the very high payout ratio. We would probably look elsewhere for an income investment.

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. For example, we've picked out 2 warning signs for Ashmore Group that investors should know about before committing capital to this stock. 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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