Two Days Left Until Public Joint Stock Company ALROSA (MCX:ALRS) Trades Ex-Dividend

Public Joint Stock Company ALROSA (MCX:ALRS) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next 2 days. The ex-dividend date is usually set to be one business day before the record date which is the cut-off date on which you must be present on the company's books as a shareholder in order to receive the dividend. The ex-dividend date is an important date to be aware of as any purchase of the stock made on or after this date might mean a late settlement that doesn't show on the record date. Accordingly, ALROSA investors that purchase the stock on or after the 1st of July will not receive the dividend, which will be paid on the 1st of January.

The company's next dividend payment will be ₽9.54 per share. Last year, in total, the company distributed ₽9.54 to shareholders. Based on the last year's worth of payments, ALROSA has a trailing yield of 7.2% on the current stock price of RUB132.02. If you buy this business for its dividend, you should have an idea of whether ALROSA's dividend is reliable and sustainable. As a result, readers should always check whether ALROSA has been able to grow its dividends, or if the dividend might be cut.

Check out our latest analysis for ALROSA

Dividends are typically paid out of company income, so if a company pays out more than it earned, its dividend is usually at a higher risk of being cut. ALROSA distributed an unsustainably high 130% of its profit as dividends to shareholders last year. Without more sustainable payment behaviour, the dividend looks precarious. Yet cash flows are even more important than profits for assessing a dividend, so we need to see if the company generated enough cash to pay its distribution. It paid out 17% of its free cash flow as dividends last year, which is conservatively low.

It's good to see that while ALROSA's dividends were not covered by profits, at least they are affordable from a cash perspective. If executives were to continue paying more in dividends than the company reported in profits, we'd view this as a warning sign. Extraordinarily few companies are capable of persistently paying a dividend that is greater than their profits.

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

Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?

Businesses with strong growth prospects usually make the best dividend payers, because it's easier to grow dividends when earnings per share are improving. If earnings decline and the company is forced to cut its dividend, investors could watch the value of their investment go up in smoke. Fortunately for readers, ALROSA's earnings per share have been growing at 12% a year for the past five years.

Another key way to measure a company's dividend prospects is by measuring its historical rate of dividend growth. In the past nine years, ALROSA has increased its dividend at approximately 28% a year on average. It's great to see earnings per share growing rapidly over several years, and dividends per share growing right along with it.

Final Takeaway

Should investors buy ALROSA for the upcoming dividend? It's good to see earnings per share growing and low cashflow payout ratio, although we're uncomfortable with ALROSA's paying out such a high percentage of its profit. Overall, it's hard to get excited about ALROSA from a dividend perspective.

With that in mind, a critical part of thorough stock research is being aware of any risks that stock currently faces. Be aware that ALROSA is showing 2 warning signs in our investment analysis, and 1 of those makes us a bit uncomfortable...

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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