Buzzi Unicem (BIT:BZU) Is Increasing Its Dividend To €0.40

Buzzi Unicem S.p.A. (BIT:BZU) has announced that it will be increasing its dividend on the 25th of May to €0.40. This takes the annual payment to 2.3% of the current stock price, which unfortunately is below what the industry is paying.

View our latest analysis for Buzzi Unicem

Buzzi Unicem'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. However, prior to this announcement, Buzzi Unicem's dividend was comfortably covered by both cash flow and earnings. As a result, a large proportion of what it earned was being reinvested back into the business.

EPS is set to fall by 18.5% over the next 12 months. Assuming the dividend continues along recent trends, we believe the payout ratio could be 21%, which we are pretty comfortable with and we think is feasible on an earnings basis.

Buzzi Unicem Has A Solid Track Record

Even over a long history of paying dividends, the company's distributions have been remarkably stable. The dividend has gone from €0.05 in 2012 to the most recent annual payment of €0.40. This means that it has been growing its distributions at 23% per annum over that time. Rapidly growing dividends for a long time is a very valuable feature for an income stock.

The Dividend Looks Likely To Grow

Investors could be attracted to the stock based on the quality of its payment history. Buzzi Unicem has impressed us by growing EPS at 32% per year over the past five years. Earnings per share is growing at a solid clip, and the payout ratio is low which we think is an ideal combination in a dividend stock as the company can quite easily raise the dividend in the future.

Buzzi Unicem Looks Like A Great Dividend Stock

Overall, we think this could be an attractive income stock, and it is only getting better by paying a higher dividend this year. The company is generating plenty of cash, and the earnings also quite easily cover the distributions. However, it is worth noting that the earnings are expected to fall over the next year, which may not change the long term outlook, but could affect the dividend payment in the next 12 months. All of these factors considered, we think this has solid potential as a dividend stock.

Market movements attest to how highly valued a consistent dividend policy is compared to one which is more unpredictable. Meanwhile, despite the importance of dividend payments, they are not the only factors our readers should know when assessing a company. Earnings growth generally bodes well for the future value of company dividend payments. See if the 13 Buzzi Unicem analysts we track are forecasting continued growth with our free report on analyst estimates for the company. Looking for more high-yielding dividend ideas? Try our collection of strong dividend payers.

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