C&F Financial's (NASDAQ:CFFI) Dividend Will Be Increased To US$0.40

C&F Financial Corporation's (NASDAQ:CFFI) dividend will be increasing to US$0.40 on 1st of July. This makes the dividend yield 3.1%, which is above the industry average.

See our latest analysis for C&F Financial

C&F Financial's Payment Has Solid Earnings Coverage

Impressive dividend yields are good, but this doesn't matter much if the payments can't be sustained. C&F Financial is quite easily earning enough to cover the dividend, however it is being let down by weak cash flows. In general, we consider cash flow to be more important than earnings, so we would be cautious about relying on the sustainability of this dividend.

If the trend of the last few years continues, EPS will grow by 14.1% over the next 12 months. Assuming the dividend continues along recent trends, we think the payout ratio could be 20% by next year, which is in a pretty sustainable range.

C&F Financial 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$1.00 in 2011 to the most recent annual payment of US$1.60. This means that it has been growing its distributions at 4.8% per annum 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 who have held shares in the company for the past few years will be happy with the dividend income they have received. We are encouraged to see that C&F Financial has grown earnings per share at 14% per year over the past five years. With a decent amount of growth and a low payout ratio, we think this bodes well for C&F Financial's prospects of growing its dividend payments in the future.

Our Thoughts On C&F Financial's Dividend

Overall, this is probably not a great income stock, even though the dividend is being raised at the moment. While the low payout ratio is redeeming feature, this is offset by the minimal cash to cover the payments. We would probably look elsewhere for an income investment.

It's important to note that companies having a consistent dividend policy will generate greater investor confidence than those having an erratic one. However, there are other things to consider for investors when analysing stock performance. For instance, we've picked out 1 warning sign for C&F Financial that investors should take into consideration. We have also put together a list of global stocks with a solid dividend.

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