ACNB (NASDAQ:ACNB) Will Pay A Dividend Of US$0.25

The board of ACNB Corporation (NASDAQ:ACNB) has announced that it will pay a dividend on the 15th of September, with investors receiving US$0.25 per share. This means the annual payment is 3.6% of the current stock price, which is above the average for the industry.

See our latest analysis for ACNB

ACNB's Payment Has Solid Earnings Coverage

If the payments aren't sustainable, a high yield for a few years won't matter that much. Before making this announcement, ACNB was easily earning enough to cover the dividend. This means that most of its earnings are being retained to grow the business.

Over the next year, EPS could expand by 11.3% if recent trends continue. Assuming the dividend continues along recent trends, we think the payout ratio could be 31% by next year, which is in a pretty sustainable range.

ACNB Has A Solid Track Record

The company has been paying a dividend for a long time, and it has been quite stable which gives us confidence in the future dividend potential. The dividend has gone from US$0.76 in 2011 to the most recent annual payment of US$1.00. This works out to be a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 2.8% a year over that time. While the consistency in the dividend payments is impressive, we think the relatively slow rate of growth is less attractive.

The Dividend Looks Likely To Grow

Investors could be attracted to the stock based on the quality of its payment history. It's encouraging to see ACNB has been growing its earnings per share at 11% a year over the past five years. A low payout ratio and decent growth suggests that the company is reinvesting well, and it also has plenty of room to increase the dividend over time.

We Really Like ACNB's Dividend

In summary, it is good to see that the dividend is staying consistent, and we don't think there is any reason to suspect this might change over the medium term. Distributions are quite easily covered by earnings, which are also being converted to cash flows. Taking this all into consideration, this looks like it could be a good dividend opportunity.

Market movements attest to how highly valued a consistent dividend policy is compared to one which is more unpredictable. Still, investors need to consider a host of other factors, apart from dividend payments, when analysing a company. Now, if you want to look closer, it would be worth checking out our free research on ACNB management tenure, salary, and performance. If you are a dividend investor, you might also want to look at our curated list of high performing dividend stock.

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