HRnetGroup (SGX:CHZ) Has Announced That Its Dividend Will Be Reduced To SGD0.0187

The board of HRnetGroup Limited (SGX:CHZ) has announced that the dividend on 11th of September will be reduced by 12% from last year's SGD0.0213 to SGD0.0187. This means the annual payment is 5.0% of the current stock price, which is above the average for the industry.

Check out our latest analysis for HRnetGroup

HRnetGroup's Earnings Easily Cover The Distributions

While it is great to have a strong dividend yield, we should also consider whether the payment is sustainable. Based on the last payment, HRnetGroup 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.

Looking forward, earnings per share is forecast to rise by 2.8% over the next year. Assuming the dividend continues along recent trends, we think the payout ratio could be 66% by next year, which is in a pretty sustainable range.

HRnetGroup Is Still Building Its Track Record

The dividend's track record has been pretty solid, but with only 5 years of history we want to see a few more years of history before making any solid conclusions. Since 2018, the dividend has gone from SGD0.023 total annually to SGD0.0374. This means that it has been growing its distributions at 10% per annum over that time. We're not overly excited about the relatively short history of dividend payments, however the dividend is growing at a nice rate and we might take a closer look.

Dividend Growth May Be Hard To Achieve

Investors could be attracted to the stock based on the quality of its payment history. However, HRnetGroup's EPS was effectively flat over the past five years, which could stop the company from paying more every year. The company has been growing at a pretty soft 1.4% per annum, and is paying out quite a lot of its earnings to shareholders. This isn't bad in itself, but unless earnings growth pick up we wouldn't expect dividends to grow either.

In Summary

Overall, while it's not great to see that the dividend has been cut, we think the company is now in a good position to make consistent payments going into the future. The payout ratio looks good, but unfortunately the company's dividend track record isn't stellar. This looks like it could be a good dividend stock going forward, but we would note that the payout ratio has been at higher levels in the past so it could happen again.

Investors generally tend to favour companies with a consistent, stable dividend policy as opposed to those operating an irregular one. Meanwhile, despite the importance of dividend payments, they are not the only factors our readers should know when assessing a company. For example, we've identified 2 warning signs for HRnetGroup (1 is a bit unpleasant!) that you should be aware of before investing. Is HRnetGroup 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.