Maeda Kosen (TSE:7821) Has Announced A Dividend Of ¥20.00

The board of Maeda Kosen Co., Ltd. (TSE:7821) has announced that it will pay a dividend on the 30th of September, with investors receiving ¥20.00 per share. Despite this raise, the dividend yield of 1.2% is only a modest boost to shareholder returns.

View our latest analysis for Maeda Kosen

Maeda Kosen's Earnings Easily Cover The Distributions

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, Maeda Kosen's earnings easily cover the dividend. This means that most of what the business earns is being used to help it grow.

The next year is set to see EPS grow by 21.1%. If the dividend continues along recent trends, we estimate the payout ratio will be 18%, which is in the range that makes us comfortable with the sustainability of the dividend.

Dividend Volatility

Although the company has a long dividend history, it has been cut at least once in the last 10 years. The annual payment during the last 10 years was ¥6.00 in 2014, and the most recent fiscal year payment was ¥40.00. This means that it has been growing its distributions at 21% per annum over that time. Despite the rapid growth in the dividend over the past number of years, we have seen the payments go down the past as well, so that makes us cautious.

The Dividend Has Growth Potential

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. Maeda Kosen has seen EPS rising for the last five years, at 9.9% per annum. A low payout ratio and decent growth suggests that the company is reinvesting well, and it also has plenty of room to increase the dividend over time.

We Really Like Maeda Kosen's Dividend

In summary, it is always positive to see the dividend being increased, and we are particularly pleased with its overall sustainability. Distributions are quite easily covered by earnings, which are also being converted to cash flows. All of these factors considered, we think this has solid potential as a dividend stock.

It's important to note that companies having a consistent dividend policy will generate greater investor confidence than those having an erratic one. At the same time, there are other factors our readers should be conscious of before pouring capital into a stock. Earnings growth generally bodes well for the future value of company dividend payments. See if the 3 Maeda Kosen analysts we track are forecasting continued growth with our free report on analyst estimates for the company. Is Maeda Kosen not quite the opportunity you were looking for? Why not check out our selection of top dividend stocks.

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