Sumitomo (TSE:8053) Is Increasing Its Dividend To ¥65.00

Sumitomo Corporation (TSE:8053) has announced that it will be increasing its dividend from last year's comparable payment on the 2nd of December to ¥65.00. This takes the dividend yield to 3.2%, which shareholders will be pleased with.

View our latest analysis for Sumitomo

Sumitomo's Dividend Is Well Covered By Earnings

A big dividend yield for a few years doesn't mean much if it can't be sustained. Before making this announcement, Sumitomo was easily earning enough to cover the dividend. As a result, a large proportion of what it earned was being reinvested back into the business.

The next year is set to see EPS grow by 9.7%. If the dividend continues on this path, the payout ratio could be 40% by next year, which we think can be pretty sustainable going forward.

Dividend Volatility

The company has a long dividend track record, but it doesn't look great with cuts in the past. The annual payment during the last 10 years was ¥47.00 in 2014, and the most recent fiscal year payment was ¥130.00. This implies that the company grew its distributions at a yearly rate of about 11% 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.

Dividend Growth May Be Hard To Achieve

Growing earnings per share could be a mitigating factor when considering the past fluctuations in the dividend. Earnings per share has been crawling upwards at 4.5% per year. Earnings growth is slow, but on the plus side, the dividend payout ratio is low and dividends could grow faster than earnings, if the company decides to increase its payout ratio.

In Summary

Overall, it's great to see the dividend being raised and that it is still in a sustainable range. The dividend has been at reasonable levels historically, but that hasn't translated into a consistent payment. Taking all of this into consideration, the dividend looks viable moving forward, but investors should be mindful that the company has pushed the boundaries of sustainability in the past and may do so again.

Market movements attest to how highly valued a consistent dividend policy is compared to one which is more unpredictable. At the same time, there are other factors our readers should be conscious of before pouring capital into a stock. Just as an example, we've come across 3 warning signs for Sumitomo you should be aware of, and 1 of them shouldn't be ignored. Looking for more high-yielding dividend ideas? Try our collection of strong dividend payers.

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