Renasant (NASDAQ:RNST) Is Paying Out A Dividend Of $0.22

The board of Renasant Corporation (NASDAQ:RNST) has announced that it will pay a dividend on the 1st of January, with investors receiving $0.22 per share. Including this payment, the dividend yield on the stock will be 2.2%, which is a modest boost for shareholders' returns.

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Renasant's Payment Expected To Have Solid Earnings Coverage

If it is predictable over a long period, even low dividend yields can be attractive.

Having distributed dividends for at least 10 years, Renasant has a long history of paying out a part of its earnings to shareholders. Taking data from its last earnings report, calculating for the company's payout ratio shows 31%, which means that Renasant would be able to pay its last dividend without pressure on the balance sheet.

Over the next 3 years, EPS is forecast to expand by 22.6%. Analysts estimate the future payout ratio will be 27% over the same time period, which is in the range that makes us comfortable with the sustainability of the dividend.

Renasant Has A Solid Track Record

Even over a long history of paying dividends, the company's distributions have been remarkably stable. Since 2012, the annual payment back then was $0.68, compared to the most recent full-year payment of $0.88. This works out to be a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 2.6% a year over that time. Slow and steady dividend growth might not sound that exciting, but dividends have been stable for ten years, which we think makes this a fairly attractive offer.

Dividend Growth May Be Hard To Achieve

The company's investors will be pleased to have been receiving dividend income for some time. However, Renasant has only grown its earnings per share at 5.0% per annum over the past five years. While EPS growth is quite low, Renasant has the option to increase the payout ratio to return more cash to shareholders.

Renasant Looks Like A Great Dividend Stock

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.

Companies possessing a stable dividend policy will likely enjoy greater investor interest than those suffering from a more inconsistent approach. However, there are other things to consider for investors when analysing stock performance. Earnings growth generally bodes well for the future value of company dividend payments. See if the 8 Renasant 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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