EDP - Energias de Portugal (ELI:EDP) Has Announced A Dividend Of €0.19

EDP - Energias de Portugal, S.A.'s (ELI:EDP) investors are due to receive a payment of €0.19 per share on 28th of April. Based on this payment, the dividend yield will be 4.1%, which is fairly typical for the industry.

See our latest analysis for EDP - Energias de Portugal

EDP - Energias de Portugal's Payment Has Solid Earnings Coverage

We aren't too impressed by dividend yields unless they can be sustained over time. Before this announcement, EDP - Energias de Portugal was paying out 114% of what it was earning, and not generating any free cash flows either. Paying out such a large dividend compared to earnings while also not generating any free cash flow would definitely be difficult to keep up.

EPS is set to grow by 33.8% over the next year. If the dividend continues growing along recent trends, we estimate the payout ratio could reach 86%, which is on the higher side, but certainly still feasible.

EDP - Energias de Portugal Has A Solid Track Record

Even over a long history of paying dividends, the company's distributions have been remarkably stable. The first annual payment during the last 10 years was €0.18 in 2012, and the most recent fiscal year payment was €0.19. Dividend payments have grown at less than 1% a year over this period. While the consistency in the dividend payments is impressive, we think the relatively slow rate of growth is less attractive.

Dividend Growth May Be Hard To Come By

Investors who have held shares in the company for the past few years will be happy with the dividend income they have received. Unfortunately things aren't as good as they seem. EDP - Energias de Portugal has seen earnings per share falling at 8.8% per year over the last five years. Declining earnings will inevitably lead to the company paying a lower dividend in line with lower profits. Earnings are predicted to grow over the next year, but we would remain cautious until a track record of earnings growth is established.

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. We can't deny that the payments have been very stable, but we are a little bit worried about the very high payout ratio. This company is not in the top tier of income providing stocks.

It's important to note that companies having a consistent dividend policy will generate greater investor confidence than those having an erratic one. However, there are other things to consider for investors when analysing stock performance. Case in point: We've spotted 4 warning signs for EDP - Energias de Portugal (of which 2 are significant!) you should know about. Is EDP - Energias de Portugal not quite the opportunity you were looking for? Why not check out our selection of top 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.