The board of engcon AB (publ) (STO:ENGCON B) has announced that it will pay a dividend on the 16th of October, with investors receiving SEK0.50 per share. Despite this raise, the dividend yield of 1.3% is only a modest boost to shareholder returns.
engcon's Payment Could Potentially Have Solid Earnings Coverage
The dividend yield is a little bit low, but sustainability of the payments is also an important part of evaluating an income stock. Based on the last payment, engcon was quite comfortably earning enough to cover the dividend. This indicates that quite a large proportion of earnings is being invested back into the business.
Over the next year, EPS is forecast to expand by 93.6%. If the dividend continues on this path, the payout ratio could be 28% by next year, which we think can be pretty sustainable going forward.
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engcon Is Still Building Its Track Record
The dividend hasn't seen any major cuts in the past, but the company has only been paying a dividend for 2 years, which isn't that long in the grand scheme of things. Since 2023, the annual payment back then was SEK0.85, compared to the most recent full-year payment of SEK1.00. This means that it has been growing its distributions at 8.5% per annum over that time. The dividend has been growing as a reasonable rate, which we like. However, investors will probably want to see a longer track record before they consider engcon to be a consistent dividend paying stock.
The Dividend Has Growth Potential
Some investors will be chomping at the bit to buy some of the company's stock based on its dividend history. engcon has seen EPS rising for the last five years, at 7.6% per annum. Since earnings per share is growing at an acceptable rate, and the payout policy is balanced, we think the company is positioning itself well to grow earnings and dividends in the future.
In Summary
Overall, this is a reasonable dividend, and it being raised is an added bonus. The payout ratio looks good, but unfortunately the company's dividend track record isn't stellar. The dividend looks okay, but there have been some issues in the past, so we would be a little bit cautious.
Investors generally tend to favour companies with a consistent, stable dividend policy as opposed to those operating an irregular one. Still, investors need to consider a host of other factors, apart from dividend payments, when analysing a company. Companies that are growing earnings tend to be the best dividend stocks over the long term. See what the 3 analysts we track are forecasting for engcon for free with public analyst estimates for the company. 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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