Only Four Days Left To Cash In On Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers' (NYSE:RBA) Dividend

Some investors rely on dividends for growing their wealth, and if you're one of those dividend sleuths, you might be intrigued to know that Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers Incorporated (NYSE:RBA) is about to go ex-dividend in just four days. Typically, the ex-dividend date is one business day before the record date which is the date on which a company determines the shareholders eligible to receive a dividend. The ex-dividend date is important as the process of settlement involves two full business days. So if you miss that date, you would not show up on the company's books on the record date. This means that investors who purchase Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers' shares on or after the 25th of May will not receive the dividend, which will be paid on the 16th of June.

The company's next dividend payment will be US$0.22 per share, and in the last 12 months, the company paid a total of US$0.88 per share. Last year's total dividend payments show that Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers has a trailing yield of 1.4% on the current share price of $61.52. Dividends are an important source of income to many shareholders, but the health of the business is crucial to maintaining those dividends. So we need to check whether the dividend payments are covered, and if earnings are growing.

See our latest analysis for Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers

If a company pays out more in dividends than it earned, then the dividend might become unsustainable - hardly an ideal situation. Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers paid out more than half (55%) of its earnings last year, which is a regular payout ratio for most companies. Yet cash flow is typically more important than profit for assessing dividend sustainability, so we should always check if the company generated enough cash to afford its dividend. It paid out 24% of its free cash flow as dividends last year, which is conservatively low.

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?

Businesses with strong growth prospects usually make the best dividend payers, because it's easier to grow dividends when earnings per share are improving. Investors love dividends, so if earnings fall and the dividend is reduced, expect a stock to be sold off heavily at the same time. This is why it's a relief to see Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers earnings per share are up 4.8% per annum over the last five years. Earnings per share growth has been slim, and the company is already paying out a majority of its earnings. While there is some room to both increase the payout ratio and reinvest in the business, generally the higher a payout ratio goes, the lower a company's prospects for future growth.

The main way most investors will assess a company's dividend prospects is by checking the historical rate of dividend growth. Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers has delivered 7.7% dividend growth per year on average over the past 10 years. 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.

The Bottom Line

Should investors buy Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers for the upcoming dividend? While earnings per share growth has been modest, Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers's dividend payouts are around an average level; without a sharp change in earnings we feel that the dividend is likely somewhat sustainable. Pleasingly the company paid out a conservatively low percentage of its free cash flow. In summary, it's hard to get excited about Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers from a dividend perspective.

In light of that, while Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers has an appealing dividend, it's worth knowing the risks involved with this stock. To help with this, we've discovered 2 warning signs for Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers that you should be aware of before investing in their shares.

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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