Subaru (TSE:7270) Has Affirmed Its Dividend Of ¥48.00

Subaru Corporation (TSE:7270) will pay a dividend of ¥48.00 on the 9th of December. This means the annual payment is 3.3% of the current stock price, which is above the average for the industry.

View our latest analysis for Subaru

Subaru's Payment Has Solid Earnings Coverage

Impressive dividend yields are good, but this doesn't matter much if the payments can't be sustained. Before making this announcement, Subaru was easily earning enough to cover the dividend. This means that most of its earnings are being retained to grow the business.

Looking forward, earnings per share is forecast to rise by 2.4% over the next year. If the dividend continues on this path, the payout ratio could be 20% by next year, which we think can be pretty sustainable going forward.

Dividend Volatility

While the company has been paying a dividend for a long time, it has cut the dividend at least once in the last 10 years. Since 2014, the annual payment back then was ¥20.00, compared to the most recent full-year payment of ¥96.00. This implies that the company grew its distributions at a yearly rate of about 17% over that duration. It is great to see strong growth in the dividend payments, but cuts are concerning as it may indicate the payout policy is too ambitious.

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. Subaru has impressed us by growing EPS at 22% 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.

We Really Like Subaru's Dividend

Overall, we like to see the dividend staying consistent, and we think Subaru might even raise payments in the future. The company is easily earning enough to cover its dividend payments and it is great to see that these earnings are being translated into cash flow. 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. At the same time, there are other factors our readers should be conscious of before pouring capital into a stock. For instance, we've picked out 1 warning sign for Subaru that investors should take into consideration. 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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