4 Days Left Until Pharmanutra S.p.A. (BIT:PHN) Trades Ex-Dividend

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Important news for shareholders and potential investors in Pharmanutra S.p.A. (BIT:PHN): The dividend payment of €0.50 per share will be distributed to shareholders on 08 May 2019, and the stock will begin trading ex-dividend at an earlier date, 06 May 2019. Investors looking for higher income-generating stocks to add to their portfolio should keep reading, as I examine Pharmanutra's latest financial data to analyse its dividend characteristics.

Check out our latest analysis for Pharmanutra

5 questions I ask before picking a dividend stock

Whenever I am looking at a potential dividend stock investment, I always check these five metrics:

• Does it pay an annual yield higher than 75% of dividend payers?
• Does it consistently pay out dividends without missing a payment of significantly cutting payout?
• Has dividend per share amount increased over the past?
• Is is able to pay the current rate of dividends from its earnings?
• Will it be able to continue to payout at the current rate in the future?

Does Pharmanutra pass our checks?

The company currently pays out 48% of its earnings as a dividend, according to its trailing twelve-month data, meaning the dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. In the near future, analysts are predicting a payout ratio of 50% which, assuming the share price stays the same, leads to a dividend yield of 2.9%. Furthermore, EPS is forecasted to fall to €0.88 in the upcoming year.

If you want to dive deeper into the sustainability of a certain payout ratio, you may wish to consider the cash flow of the business. Companies with strong cash flow can sustain a higher payout ratio, while companies with weaker cash flow generally cannot.

Reliablity is an important factor for dividend stocks, particularly for income investors who want a strong track record of payment and a positive outlook for future payout. Unfortunately, it is really too early to view Pharmanutra as a dividend investment. Last year was the company's first dividend payment, so it is certainly early days. The standard practice for reliable payers is to look for 10 or so years of track record.

Compared to its peers, Pharmanutra has a yield of 2.4%, which is high for Personal Products stocks but still below the market's top dividend payers.

Next Steps:

If you are building an income portfolio, then Pharmanutra is a complicated choice since it has some positive aspects as well as negative ones. 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. Below, I've compiled three essential factors you should further examine:

1. Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for PHN’s future growth? Take a look at our free research report of analyst consensus for PHN’s outlook.
2. Valuation: What is PHN 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 PHN is currently mispriced by the market.
3. Dividend Rockstars: Are there better dividend payers with stronger fundamentals out there? Check out our free list of these great stocks here.

We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.

If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. 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. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.