SouthState Corporation (NYSE:SSB) Pays A US$0.54 Dividend In Just Four Days

Regular readers will know that we love our dividends at Simply Wall St, which is why it's exciting to see SouthState Corporation (NYSE:SSB) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next 4 days. The ex-dividend date is one business day before a company's record date, which is the date on which the company determines which shareholders are entitled to receive a dividend. The ex-dividend date is an important date to be aware of as any purchase of the stock made on or after this date might mean a late settlement that doesn't show on the record date. Accordingly, SouthState investors that purchase the stock on or after the 9th of May will not receive the dividend, which will be paid on the 16th of May.

The company's next dividend payment will be US$0.54 per share, and in the last 12 months, the company paid a total of US$2.16 per share. Based on the last year's worth of payments, SouthState stock has a trailing yield of around 2.4% on the current share price of US$89.38. Dividends are an important source of income to many shareholders, but the health of the business is crucial to maintaining those dividends. We need to see whether the dividend is covered by earnings and if it's growing.

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If a company pays out more in dividends than it earned, then the dividend might become unsustainable - hardly an ideal situation. SouthState paid out a comfortable 35% of its profit last year.

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

See our latest analysis for SouthState

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

Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?

Stocks with flat earnings can still be attractive dividend payers, but it is important to be more conservative with your approach and demand a greater margin for safety when it comes to dividend sustainability. Investors love dividends, so if earnings fall and the dividend is reduced, expect a stock to be sold off heavily at the same time. With that in mind, we're not enthused to see that SouthState's earnings per share have remained effectively flat over the past five years. We'd take that over an earnings decline any day, but in the long run, the best dividend stocks all grow their earnings per share.

The main way most investors will assess a company's dividend prospects is by checking the historical rate of dividend growth. SouthState has delivered 9.9% dividend growth per year on average over the past 10 years.

Final Takeaway

Is SouthState an attractive dividend stock, or better left on the shelf? SouthState's earnings per share are basically flat over the past five years, although it has the cushion of a low payout ratio, which would suggest a cut to the dividend is relatively unlikely. At best we would put it on a watch-list to see if business conditions improve, as it doesn't look like a clear opportunity right now.

With that being said, if dividends aren't your biggest concern with SouthState, you should know about the other risks facing this business. To help with this, we've discovered 1 warning sign for SouthState that you should be aware of before investing in their shares.

If you're in the market for strong dividend payers, we recommend checking 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.