Three Days Left To Buy Samsung Life Insurance Co., Ltd. (KRX:032830) Before The Ex-Dividend Date

Samsung Life Insurance Co., Ltd. (KRX:032830) stock is about to trade ex-dividend in 3 days. Investors can purchase shares before the 29th of December in order to be eligible for this dividend, which will be paid on the 17th of April.

Samsung Life Insurance's upcoming dividend is ₩2,650 a share, following on from the last 12 months, when the company distributed a total of ₩2,650 per share to shareholders. Last year's total dividend payments show that Samsung Life Insurance has a trailing yield of 3.2% on the current share price of ₩82100. Dividends are a major contributor to investment returns for long term holders, but only if the dividend continues to be paid. So we need to investigate whether Samsung Life Insurance can afford its dividend, and if the dividend could grow.

See our latest analysis for Samsung Life Insurance

If a company pays out more in dividends than it earned, then the dividend might become unsustainable - hardly an ideal situation. Samsung Life Insurance paid out a comfortable 48% of its profit last year.

When a company paid out less in dividends than it earned in profit, this generally suggests its dividend is affordable. The lower the % of its profit that it pays out, the greater the margin of safety for the dividend if the business enters a downturn.

Click here to see the company's payout ratio, plus analyst estimates of its future dividends.

Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?

When earnings decline, dividend companies become much harder to analyse and own safely. If earnings decline and the company is forced to cut its dividend, investors could watch the value of their investment go up in smoke. So we're not too excited that Samsung Life Insurance's earnings are down 4.7% a year over the past five years.

Many investors will assess a company's dividend performance by evaluating how much the dividend payments have changed over time. Samsung Life Insurance has delivered 8.9% dividend growth per year on average over the past 10 years.

To Sum It Up

From a dividend perspective, should investors buy or avoid Samsung Life Insurance? Earnings per share have shrunk noticeably in recent years, although we like that the company has a low payout ratio. This could suggest a cut to the dividend may not be a major risk in the near future. It might be worth researching if the company is reinvesting in growth projects that could grow earnings and dividends in the future, but for now we're on the fence about its dividend prospects.

With that being said, if dividends aren't your biggest concern with Samsung Life Insurance, you should know about the other risks facing this business. Be aware that Samsung Life Insurance is showing 3 warning signs in our investment analysis, and 1 of those is significant...

A common investment mistake is buying the first interesting stock you see. Here you can find a list of promising dividend stocks with a greater than 2% yield and an upcoming dividend.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. 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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