Great Southern Bancorp (NASDAQ:GSBC) Is Due To Pay A Dividend Of $0.40

Great Southern Bancorp, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:GSBC) investors are due to receive a payment of $0.40 per share on 16th of April. This means the dividend yield will be fairly typical at 2.9%.

View our latest analysis for Great Southern Bancorp

Great Southern Bancorp's Dividend Forecasted To Be Well Covered By Earnings

We like to see a healthy dividend yield, but that is only helpful to us if the payment can continue.

Great Southern Bancorp has established itself as a dividend paying company with over 10 years history of distributing earnings to shareholders. Based on Great Southern Bancorp's last earnings report, the payout ratio is at a decent 28%, meaning that the company is able to pay out its dividend with a bit of room to spare.

Over the next 3 years, EPS is forecast to fall by 16.2%. Despite that, analysts estimate the future payout ratio could be 33% over the same time period, which is in a pretty comfortable range.

Great Southern Bancorp 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 annual payment during the last 10 years was $0.72 in 2014, and the most recent fiscal year payment was $1.60. This works out to be a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 8.3% a year over that time. Companies like this can be very valuable over the long term, if the decent rate of growth can be maintained.

Dividend Growth May Be Hard To Achieve

Investors could be attracted to the stock based on the quality of its payment history. Earnings per share has been crawling upwards at 4.0% per year. If Great Southern Bancorp is struggling to find viable investments, it always has the option to increase its payout ratio to pay more to shareholders.

We Really Like Great Southern Bancorp's Dividend

Overall, we like to see the dividend staying consistent, and we think Great Southern Bancorp might even raise payments in the future. The earnings easily cover the company's distributions, and the company is generating plenty of cash. We should point out that the earnings are expected to fall over the next 12 months, which won't be a problem if this doesn't become a trend, but could cause some turbulence in the next year. All of these factors considered, we think this has solid potential as a dividend stock.

Market movements attest to how highly valued a consistent dividend policy is compared to one which is more unpredictable. Meanwhile, despite the importance of dividend payments, they are not the only factors our readers should know when assessing a company. As an example, we've identified 1 warning sign for Great Southern Bancorp that you should be aware of before investing. Is Great Southern Bancorp not quite the opportunity you were looking for? Why not check out our selection of top dividend stocks.

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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.