Brookline Bancorp's (NASDAQ:BRKL) Dividend Will Be $0.135

Brookline Bancorp, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:BRKL) investors are due to receive a payment of $0.135 per share on 24th of November. This means the annual payment is 6.6% of the current stock price, which is above the average for the industry.

See our latest analysis for Brookline Bancorp

Brookline Bancorp's Earnings Will Easily Cover The Distributions

A big dividend yield for a few years doesn't mean much if it can't be sustained.

Brookline Bancorp has established itself as a dividend paying company with over 10 years history of distributing earnings to shareholders. Past distributions do not necessarily guarantee future ones, but Brookline Bancorp's payout ratio of 56% is a good sign as this means that earnings decently cover dividends.

Looking forward, EPS is forecast to rise by 31.2% over the next 3 years. The future payout ratio could be 52% over that time period, according to analyst estimates, which is a good look for the future of the dividend.

Brookline Bancorp Has A Solid Track Record

The company has a sustained record of paying dividends with very little fluctuation. Since 2013, the annual payment back then was $0.34, compared to the most recent full-year payment of $0.54. This implies that the company grew its distributions at a yearly rate of about 4.7% over that duration. Dividends have grown relatively slowly, which is not great, but some investors may value the relative consistency of the dividend.

Dividend Growth May Be Hard To Achieve

Investors who have held shares in the company for the past few years will be happy with the dividend income they have received. However, Brookline Bancorp's EPS was effectively flat over the past five years, which could stop the company from paying more every year. Growth of 1.2% per annum is not particularly high, which might explain why the company is paying out a higher proportion of earnings. This isn't bad in itself, but unless earnings growth pick up we wouldn't expect dividends to grow either.

We should note that Brookline Bancorp has issued stock equal to 15% of shares outstanding. Regularly doing this can be detrimental - it's hard to grow dividends per share when new shares are regularly being created.

Brookline Bancorp Looks Like A Great Dividend Stock

Overall, we like to see the dividend staying consistent, and we think Brookline Bancorp might even raise payments in the future. Earnings are easily covering distributions, and the company is generating plenty of cash. 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. However, there are other things to consider for investors when analysing stock performance. For instance, we've picked out 1 warning sign for Brookline Bancorp that investors should take into consideration. Looking for more high-yielding dividend ideas? Try our collection of strong dividend payers.

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