Apollo Hospitals Enterprise's (NSE:APOLLOHOSP) Shareholders Will Receive A Bigger Dividend Than Last Year

Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Limited's (NSE:APOLLOHOSP) dividend will be increasing from last year's payment of the same period to ₹11.75 on 6th of September. Even though the dividend went up, the yield is still quite low at only 0.3%.

See our latest analysis for Apollo Hospitals Enterprise

Apollo Hospitals Enterprise's Payment Has Solid Earnings Coverage

It would be nice for the yield to be higher, but we should also check if higher levels of dividend payment would be sustainable. Before making this announcement, Apollo Hospitals Enterprise was easily earning enough to cover the dividend. This means that most of its earnings are being retained to grow the business.

The next year is set to see EPS grow by 61.1%. If the dividend continues on this path, the payout ratio could be 10% by next year, which we think can be pretty sustainable going forward.

Dividend Volatility

The company's dividend history has been marked by instability, with at least one cut in the last 10 years. The annual payment during the last 10 years was ₹4.00 in 2012, and the most recent fiscal year payment was ₹11.75. This works out to be a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 11% a year over that time. Despite the rapid growth in the dividend over the past number of years, we have seen the payments go down the past as well, so that makes us cautious.

The Dividend Looks Likely To Grow

With a relatively unstable dividend, it's even more important to evaluate if earnings per share is growing, which could point to a growing dividend in the future. Apollo Hospitals Enterprise has impressed us by growing EPS at 36% per year over the past five years. Earnings have been growing rapidly, and with a low payout ratio we think that the company could turn out to be a great dividend stock.

We Really Like Apollo Hospitals Enterprise's Dividend

Overall, we think this could be an attractive income stock, and it is only getting better by paying a higher dividend this year. Earnings are easily covering distributions, and the company is generating plenty of cash. All of these factors considered, we think this has solid potential as a dividend stock.

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 Apollo Hospitals Enterprise 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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