Artnature (TSE:7823) Has Affirmed Its Dividend Of ¥14.00

Artnature Inc. (TSE:7823) will pay a dividend of ¥14.00 on the 2nd of December. The dividend yield will be 3.5% based on this payment which is still above the industry average.

Check out our latest analysis for Artnature

Artnature's Earnings Easily Cover The Distributions

A big dividend yield for a few years doesn't mean much if it can't be sustained. Based on the last dividend, Artnature is earning enough to cover the payment, but then it makes up 615% of cash flows. This signals that the company is more focused on returning cash flow to shareholders, but it could mean that the dividend is exposed to cuts in the future.

EPS is set to fall by 4.7% over the next 12 months if recent trends continue. Assuming the dividend continues along recent trends, we believe the payout ratio could be 68%, which we are pretty comfortable with and we think is feasible on an earnings basis.

Dividend Volatility

The company has a long dividend track record, but it doesn't look great with cuts in the past. Since 2014, the dividend has gone from ¥25.00 total annually to ¥28.00. This means that it has been growing its distributions at 1.1% per annum over that time. We're glad to see the dividend has risen, but with a limited rate of growth and fluctuations in the payments the total shareholder return may be limited.

Artnature May Find It Hard To Grow The Dividend

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. It's not great to see that Artnature's earnings per share has fallen at approximately 4.7% per year over the past five years. A modest decline in earnings isn't great, and it makes it quite unlikely that the dividend will grow in the future unless that trend can be reversed.

The Dividend Could Prove To Be Unreliable

Overall, it's nice to see a consistent dividend payment, but we think that longer term, the current level of payment might be unsustainable. While the low payout ratio is a redeeming feature, this is offset by the minimal cash to cover the payments. We would probably look elsewhere for an income investment.

Investors generally tend to favour companies with a consistent, stable dividend policy as opposed to those operating an irregular one. Meanwhile, despite the importance of dividend payments, they are not the only factors our readers should know when assessing a company. For instance, we've picked out 2 warning signs for Artnature 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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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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