On the 12 June 2018, Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA) will be paying shareholders an upcoming dividend amount of $0.4 per share. However, investors must have bought the company’s stock before 17 May 2018 in order to qualify for the payment. That means you have only 3 days left! Should you diversify into Walgreens Boots Alliance and boost your portfolio income stream? Well, keep on reading because today, I’m going to look at the latest data and analyze the stock and its dividend property in further detail. View our latest analysis for Walgreens Boots Alliance
5 questions I ask before picking a dividend stock
If you are a dividend investor, you should always assess these five key metrics:
- Is its annual yield among the top 25% of dividend-paying companies?
- Does it consistently pay out dividends without missing a payment or significantly cutting payout?
- Has it increased its dividend per share amount over the past?
- Is it able to pay the current rate of dividends from its earnings?
- Will the company be able to keep paying dividend based on the future earnings growth?
How does Walgreens Boots Alliance fare?
The current trailing twelve-month payout ratio for the stock is 39.33%, meaning the dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. In the near future, analysts are predicting lower payout ratio of 23.58%, leading to a dividend yield of around 2.70%. However, EPS should increase to $5.23, meaning that the lower payout ratio does not necessarily implicate a lower dividend payment. If dividend is a key criteria in your investment consideration, then you need to make sure the dividend stock you’re eyeing out is reliable in its payments. WBA has increased its DPS from $0.38 to $1.6 in the past 10 years. It has also been paying out dividend consistently during this time, as you’d expect for a company increasing its dividend levels. This is an impressive feat, which makes WBA a true dividend rockstar. Compared to its peers, Walgreens Boots Alliance generates a yield of 2.50%, which is on the low-side for Consumer Retailing stocks.
Next Steps:
Considering the dividend attributes we analyzed above, Walgreens Boots Alliance is definitely worth keeping an eye on for someone looking to build a dedicated income portfolio. Given that this is purely a dividend analysis, I recommend taking sufficient time to understand its core business and determine whether the company and its investment properties suit your overall goals. There are three key aspects you should further research:
- Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for WBA’s future growth? Take a look at our free research report of analyst consensus for WBA’s outlook.
- Valuation: What is WBA worth today? Even if the stock is a cash cow, it’s not worth an infinite price. The intrinsic value infographic in our free research report helps visualize whether WBA is currently mispriced by the market.
- Other Dividend Rockstars: Are there better dividend payers with stronger fundamentals out there? Check out our free list of these great stocks here.