Should Income Investors Look At Dover Corporation (NYSE:DOV) Before Its Ex-Dividend?

Dover Corporation (NYSE:DOV) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next four days. If you purchase the stock on or after the 27th of November, you won't be eligible to receive this dividend, when it is paid on the 14th of December.

Dover's next dividend payment will be US$0.49 per share, and in the last 12 months, the company paid a total of US$1.98 per share. Based on the last year's worth of payments, Dover has a trailing yield of 1.6% on the current stock price of $123.48. Dividends are a major contributor to investment returns for long term holders, but only if the dividend continues to be paid. As a result, readers should always check whether Dover has been able to grow its dividends, or if the dividend might be cut.

View our latest analysis for Dover

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. Dover paid out a comfortable 42% of its profit last year. That said, even highly profitable companies sometimes might not generate enough cash to pay the dividend, which is why we should always check if the dividend is covered by cash flow. It distributed 32% of its free cash flow as dividends, a comfortable payout level for most companies.

It's encouraging to see that the dividend is covered by both profit and cash flow. This generally suggests the dividend is sustainable, as long as earnings don't drop precipitously.

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 fall far enough, the company could be forced to cut its dividend. That explains why we're not overly excited about Dover's flat earnings 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.

Another key way to measure a company's dividend prospects is by measuring its historical rate of dividend growth. Dover has delivered an average of 6.7% per year annual increase in its dividend, based on the past 10 years of dividend payments.

The Bottom Line

Is Dover an attractive dividend stock, or better left on the shelf? Earnings per share have been flat, although at least the company is paying out a low and conservative percentage of both its earnings and cash flow. It's definitely not great to see earnings falling, but at least there may be some buffer before the dividend gets cut. In summary, it's hard to get excited about Dover from a dividend perspective.

With that in mind, a critical part of thorough stock research is being aware of any risks that stock currently faces. In terms of investment risks, we've identified 2 warning signs with Dover and understanding them should be part of your investment process.

We wouldn't recommend just buying the first dividend stock you see, though. Here's a list of interesting 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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