Is Buying Panther Securities Plc (LON:PNS) For Its Upcoming £0.1 Dividend A Good Choice?

Shares of Panther Securities Plc (AIM:PNS) will begin trading ex-dividend in 3 days. To qualify for the dividend check of £0.1 per share, investors must have owned the shares prior to 26 April 2018, which is the last day the company's management will finalize their list of shareholders to which they will send dividend payments. Is this future income a persuasive enough catalyst for investors to think about Panther Securities as an investment today? Below, I'm going to look at the latest data and analyze the stock and its dividend property in further detail. See our latest analysis for Panther Securities

How I analyze a dividend stock

When assessing a stock as a potential addition to my dividend Portfolio, I look at these five areas:

• Is their annual yield among the top 25% of dividend payers?
• Has it consistently paid a stable dividend without missing a payment or drastically cutting payout?
• Has dividend per share risen in the past couple of years?
• Is its earnings sufficient to payout dividend at the current rate?
• Will it have the ability to keep paying its dividends going forward?

How does Panther Securities fare?

The company currently pays out 25.60% of its earnings as a dividend, according to its trailing twelve-month data, meaning the dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Furthermore, analysts have not forecasted a dividends per share for the future, which makes it hard to determine the yield shareholders should expect, and whether the current payout is sustainable, moving forward. 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. PNS investors will be well aware there has not been any increase in the dividend payments over the last 10 years, although the payments have at least been steady. Though this may not be a serious red flag, strong dividend stocks should always strive to increase its payout over time. Relative to peers, Panther Securities generates a yield of 3.69%, which is high for Real Estate stocks but still below the market's top dividend payers.

Next Steps:

If Panther Securities is in your portfolio for cash-generating reasons, there may be better alternatives out there. However, if you are not strictly just a dividend investor, the stock could still offer some interesting investment opportunities. 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. There are three key aspects you should further examine:

1. Valuation: What is PNS 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 PNS 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 Panther Securities’s board and the CEO’s back ground.
3. Dividend Rockstars: Are there better dividend payers with stronger fundamentals out there? Check out our free list of these great stocks here.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com

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.