Here's What We Like About Tompkins Financial's (NYSEMKT:TMP) Upcoming Dividend

Tompkins Financial Corporation (NYSEMKT:TMP) stock is about to trade ex-dividend in 4 days. You can purchase shares before the 8th of February in order to receive the dividend, which the company will pay on the 16th of February.

Tompkins Financial's upcoming dividend is US$0.54 a share, following on from the last 12 months, when the company distributed a total of US$2.16 per share to shareholders. Calculating the last year's worth of payments shows that Tompkins Financial has a trailing yield of 3.1% on the current share price of $70.24. 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.

See our latest analysis for Tompkins Financial

Dividends are typically paid from company earnings. If a company pays more in dividends than it earned in profit, then the dividend could be unsustainable. Fortunately Tompkins Financial's payout ratio is modest, at just 40% of profit.

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

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

Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?

Companies with consistently growing earnings per share generally make the best dividend stocks, as they usually find it easier to grow dividends per share. 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 encouraged by the steady growth at Tompkins Financial, with earnings per share up 6.2% on average over the last five years.

The main way most investors will assess a company's dividend prospects is by checking the historical rate of dividend growth. Tompkins Financial has delivered an average of 4.7% per year annual increase in its dividend, based on the past 10 years of dividend payments. We're glad to see dividends rising alongside earnings over a number of years, which may be a sign the company intends to share the growth with shareholders.

To Sum It Up

Is Tompkins Financial an attractive dividend stock, or better left on the shelf? Tompkins Financial has seen its earnings per share grow slowly in recent years, and the company reinvests more than half of its profits in the business, which generally bodes well for its future prospects. Tompkins Financial ticks a lot of boxes for us from a dividend perspective, and we think these characteristics should mark the company as deserving of further attention.

While it's tempting to invest in Tompkins Financial for the dividends alone, you should always be mindful of the risks involved. For example, we've found 1 warning sign for Tompkins Financial that we recommend you consider before investing in the business.

A common investment mistake is buying the first interesting stock you see. Here you can find a list of promising dividend stocks with a greater than 2% yield and an upcoming dividend.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. 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.
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