First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) Is Due To Pay A Dividend Of $0.23

First Busey Corporation (NASDAQ:BUSE) will pay a dividend of $0.23 on the 29th of July. This makes the dividend yield 3.9%, which will augment investor returns quite nicely.

Check out our latest analysis for First Busey

First Busey's Dividend Forecasted To Be Well Covered By Earnings

If the payments aren't sustainable, a high yield for a few years won't matter that much.

Having distributed dividends for at least 10 years, First Busey has a long history of paying out a part of its earnings to shareholders. Based on First Busey's last earnings report, the payout ratio is at a decent 45%, meaning that the company is able to pay out its dividend with a bit of room to spare.

The next 3 years are set to see EPS grow by 10.7%. Analysts forecast the future payout ratio could be 40% over the same time horizon, which is a number we think the company can maintain.

First Busey Has A Solid Track Record

Even over a long history of paying dividends, the company's distributions have been remarkably stable. The dividend has gone from an annual total of $0.48 in 2012 to the most recent total annual payment of $0.92. This means that it has been growing its distributions at 6.7% per annum over that time. Companies like this can be very valuable over the long term, if the decent rate of growth can be maintained.

The Dividend Has Growth Potential

Investors could be attracted to the stock based on the quality of its payment history. First Busey has impressed us by growing EPS at 7.3% per year over the past five years. Earnings are on the uptrend, and it is only paying a small portion of those earnings to shareholders.

We Really Like First Busey'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.

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. Earnings growth generally bodes well for the future value of company dividend payments. See if the 7 First Busey analysts we track are forecasting continued growth with our free report on analyst estimates for the company. Looking for more high-yielding dividend ideas? Try our collection of strong dividend payers.

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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.