Castings (LON:CGS) Has Announced That It Will Be Increasing Its Dividend To £0.1257

Castings P.L.C.'s (LON:CGS) dividend will be increasing from last year's payment of the same period to £0.1257 on 19th of August. Although the dividend is now higher, the yield is only 5.0%, which is below the industry average.

See our latest analysis for Castings

Castings Doesn't Earn Enough To Cover Its Payments

The dividend yield is a little bit low, but sustainability of the payments is also an important part of evaluating an income stock. Before making this announcement, Castings was paying out quite a large proportion of both earnings and cash flow, with the dividend being 116% of cash flows. Paying out such a high proportion of cash flows certainly exposes the company to cutting the dividend if cash flows were to reduce.

The next 12 months is set to see EPS grow by 56.6%. Assuming the dividend continues along recent trends, we think the payout ratio could reach 104%, which probably can't continue without putting some pressure on the balance sheet.

Castings Has A Solid Track Record

Even over a long history of paying dividends, the company's distributions have been remarkably stable. Since 2012, the dividend has gone from £0.118 total annually to £0.162. This works out to be a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 3.3% a year over that time. Dividends have grown relatively slowly, which is not great, but some investors may value the relative consistency of the dividend.

Dividend Growth May Be Hard To Come By

Some investors will be chomping at the bit to buy some of the company's stock based on its dividend history. However, things aren't all that rosy. Castings has seen earnings per share falling at 8.0% per year over the last five years. Declining earnings will inevitably lead to the company paying a lower dividend in line with lower profits. It's not all bad news though, as the earnings are predicted to rise over the next 12 months - we would just be a bit cautious until this can turn into a longer term trend.

The Dividend Could Prove To Be Unreliable

Overall, this is probably not a great income stock, even though the dividend is being raised at the moment. In the past the payments have been stable, but we think the company is paying out too much for this to continue for the long term. We would be a touch cautious of relying on this stock primarily for the dividend income.

Investors generally tend to favour companies with a consistent, stable dividend policy as opposed to those operating an irregular one. However, there are other things to consider for investors when analysing stock performance. For example, we've picked out 1 warning sign for Castings that investors should know about before committing capital to this stock. Looking for more high-yielding dividend ideas? Try our collection of 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.