Great Southern Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:GSBC) Passed Our Checks, And It's About To Pay A US$0.40 Dividend

Readers hoping to buy Great Southern Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:GSBC) for its dividend will need to make their move shortly, as the stock is about to trade ex-dividend. The ex-dividend date is one business day before the record date, which is the cut-off date for shareholders to be present on the company's books to be eligible for a dividend payment. The ex-dividend date is important because any transaction on a stock needs to have been settled before the record date in order to be eligible for a dividend. Thus, you can purchase Great Southern Bancorp's shares before the 31st of March in order to receive the dividend, which the company will pay on the 14th of April.

The company's next dividend payment will be US$0.40 per share, and in the last 12 months, the company paid a total of US$1.60 per share. Last year's total dividend payments show that Great Southern Bancorp has a trailing yield of 2.8% on the current share price of US$57.42. We love seeing companies pay a dividend, but it's also important to be sure that laying the golden eggs isn't going to kill our golden goose! We need to see whether the dividend is covered by earnings and if it's growing.

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Dividends are usually paid out of company profits, so if a company pays out more than it earned then its dividend is usually at greater risk of being cut. That's why it's good to see Great Southern Bancorp paying out a modest 30% of its earnings.

Generally speaking, the lower a company's payout ratios, the more resilient its dividend usually is.

View our latest analysis for Great Southern Bancorp

Click here to see the company's payout ratio, plus analyst estimates of its future dividends.

Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?

Companies that aren't growing their earnings can still be valuable, but it is even more important to assess the sustainability of the dividend if it looks like the company will struggle to grow. If earnings decline and the company is forced to cut its dividend, investors could watch the value of their investment go up in smoke. With that in mind, we're not enthused to see that Great Southern Bancorp's earnings per share have remained effectively flat over the past five years. Better than seeing them fall off a cliff, for sure, but the best dividend stocks grow their earnings meaningfully over the long run.

The main way most investors will assess a company's dividend prospects is by checking the historical rate of dividend growth. Since the start of our data, 10 years ago, Great Southern Bancorp has lifted its dividend by approximately 7.2% a year on average.

The Bottom Line

From a dividend perspective, should investors buy or avoid Great Southern Bancorp? Great Southern Bancorp has seen its earnings per share stagnate in recent years, although the company reinvests more than half of its profits in the business, which could bode well for its future prospects. Overall, Great Southern Bancorp looks like a promising dividend stock in this analysis, and we think it would be worth investigating further.

On that note, you'll want to research what risks Great Southern Bancorp is facing. To help with this, we've discovered 1 warning sign for Great Southern Bancorp that you should be aware of before investing in their shares.

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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.