Should Hellenic Exchanges - Athens Stock Exchange SA (ATH:EXAE) Be Part Of Your Income Portfolio?

Dividend paying stocks like Hellenic Exchanges - Athens Stock Exchange SA (ATH:EXAE) tend to be popular with investors, and for good reason - some research suggests a significant amount of all stock market returns come from reinvested dividends. Unfortunately, it's common for investors to be enticed in by the seemingly attractive yield, and lose money when the company has to cut its dividend payments.

A high yield and a long history of paying dividends is an appealing combination for Hellenic Exchanges - Athens Stock Exchange. We'd guess that plenty of investors have purchased it for the income. When buying stocks for their dividends, you should always run through the checks below, to see if the dividend looks sustainable.

Explore this interactive chart for our latest analysis on Hellenic Exchanges - Athens Stock Exchange!

Payout ratios

Dividends are usually paid out of company earnings. If a company is paying more than it earns, then the dividend might become unsustainable - hardly an ideal situation. So we need to form a view on if a company's dividend is sustainable, relative to its net profit after tax. Hellenic Exchanges - Athens Stock Exchange paid out 69% of its profit as dividends, over the trailing twelve month period. This is a fairly normal payout ratio among most businesses. It allows a higher dividend to be paid to shareholders, but does limit the capital retained in the business - which could be good or bad.

We update our data on Hellenic Exchanges - Athens Stock Exchange every 24 hours, so you can always get our latest analysis of its financial health, here.

Dividend Volatility

One of the major risks of relying on dividend income, is the potential for a company to struggle financially and cut its dividend. Not only is your income cut, but the value of your investment declines as well - nasty. For the purpose of this article, we only scrutinise the last decade of Hellenic Exchanges - Athens Stock Exchange's dividend payments. The dividend has been cut on at least one occasion historically. During the past 10-year period, the first annual payment was €0.4 in 2010, compared to €0.3 last year. The dividend has shrunk at around 3.5% a year during that period. Hellenic Exchanges - Athens Stock Exchange's dividend hasn't shrunk linearly at 3.5% per annum, but the CAGR is a useful estimate of the historical rate of change.

When a company's per-share dividend falls we question if this reflects poorly on either external business conditions, or the company's capital allocation decisions. Either way, we find it hard to get excited about a company with a declining dividend.

Dividend Growth Potential

With a relatively unstable dividend, it's even more important to evaluate if earnings per share (EPS) are growing - it's not worth taking the risk on a dividend getting cut, unless you might be rewarded with larger dividends in future. Hellenic Exchanges - Athens Stock Exchange's EPS have fallen by approximately 21% per year during the past five years. With this kind of significant decline, we always wonder what has changed in the business. Dividends are about stability, and Hellenic Exchanges - Athens Stock Exchange's earnings per share, which support the dividend, have been anything but stable.

Conclusion

Dividend investors should always want to know if a) a company's dividends are affordable, b) if there is a track record of consistent payments, and c) if the dividend is capable of growing. Hellenic Exchanges - Athens Stock Exchange's payout ratio is within normal bounds. Earnings per share have been falling, and the company has cut its dividend at least once in the past. From a dividend perspective, this is a cause for concern. To conclude, we've spotted a couple of potential concerns with Hellenic Exchanges - Athens Stock Exchange that may make it less than ideal candidate for dividend investors.

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. As an example, we've identified 1 warning sign for Hellenic Exchanges - Athens Stock Exchange that you should be aware of before investing.

If you are a dividend investor, you might also want to look at our curated list of dividend stocks yielding above 3%.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. 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.
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