3 Days Left To Schroder European Real Estate Investment Trust Plc (LON:SERE)’s Ex-Dividend Date, Is It Worth Buying?

Important news for shareholders and potential investors in Schroder European Real Estate Investment Trust Plc (LSE:SERE): The dividend payment of €0.02 per share will be distributed into shareholder on 13 April 2018, and the stock will begin trading ex-dividend at an earlier date, 22 March 2018. Is this future income stream a compelling catalyst for dividend investors to think about the stock as an investment today? Let's take a look at Schroder European Real Estate Investment Trust's most recent financial data to examine its dividend characteristics in more detail. View our latest analysis for Schroder European Real Estate Investment Trust

5 questions I ask before picking a dividend stock

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

• Is it the top 25% annual dividend yield payer?
• Has its dividend been stable over the past (i.e. no missed payments or significant payout cuts)?
• Has it increased its dividend per share amount over the past?
• Is it able to pay the current rate of dividends from its earnings?
• Based on future earnings growth, will it be able to continue to payout dividend at the current rate?

How does Schroder European Real Estate Investment Trust fare?

The company currently pays out 67.11% of its earnings as a dividend, according to its trailing twelve-month data, which is rather low compared to other REITs. Generally, REITs are expected to pay out the majority of its earnings to provide a regular income stream for their investors. 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. Unfortunately, it is really too early to view Schroder European Real Estate Investment Trust as a dividend investment. It has only been paying out dividend for the past one year. Generally, the rule of thumb for determining whether a stock is a reliable dividend payer is that it should be consistently paying dividends for the past 10 years or more. Clearly there's a long road ahead before we can ascertain whether SERE one as a stable dividend player. Relative to peers, Schroder European Real Estate Investment Trust generates a yield of 5.72%, which is high for REITs stocks.

Next Steps:

If Schroder European Real Estate Investment Trust 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 recommend taking sufficient time to understand its core business and determine whether the company and its investment properties suit your overall goals. I've put together three pertinent factors you should look at:

• Valuation: What is SERE 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 SERE is currently mispriced by the market.
• Management Team: An experienced management team on the helm increases our confidence in the business – take a look at who sits on Schroder European Real Estate Investment Trust’s board and the CEO’s back ground.
• 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.