Four Days Left To Buy Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBRL) Before The Ex-Dividend Date

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 Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBRL) is about to go ex-dividend in just four days. The ex-dividend date is usually set to be one business day before the record date which is the cut-off date on which you must be present on the company's books as a shareholder in order to receive the dividend. The ex-dividend date is of consequence because whenever a stock is bought or sold, the trade takes at least two business day to settle. Accordingly, Cracker Barrel Old Country Store investors that purchase the stock on or after the 13th of January will not receive the dividend, which will be paid on the 1st of February.

The company's next dividend payment will be US$1.30 per share, and in the last 12 months, the company paid a total of US$5.20 per share. Based on the last year's worth of payments, Cracker Barrel Old Country Store has a trailing yield of 3.8% on the current stock price of $136.42. If you buy this business for its dividend, you should have an idea of whether Cracker Barrel Old Country Store's dividend is reliable and sustainable. So we need to investigate whether Cracker Barrel Old Country Store can afford its dividend, and if the dividend could grow.

View our latest analysis for Cracker Barrel Old Country Store

If a company pays out more in dividends than it earned, then the dividend might become unsustainable - hardly an ideal situation. Fortunately Cracker Barrel Old Country Store's payout ratio is modest, at just 46% of profit. Yet cash flows are even more important than profits for assessing a dividend, so we need to see if the company generated enough cash to pay its distribution. It paid out 12% 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?

Companies with falling earnings are riskier for dividend shareholders. Investors love dividends, so if earnings fall and the dividend is reduced, expect a stock to be sold off heavily at the same time. Cracker Barrel Old Country Store's earnings per share have fallen at approximately 8.8% a year over the previous five years. When earnings per share fall, the maximum amount of dividends that can be paid also falls.

Many investors will assess a company's dividend performance by evaluating how much the dividend payments have changed over time. Cracker Barrel Old Country Store has delivered an average of 19% per year annual increase in its dividend, based on the past 10 years of dividend payments.

To Sum It Up

From a dividend perspective, should investors buy or avoid Cracker Barrel Old Country Store? Earnings per share are down meaningfully, 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 needs to be cut. Overall, it's hard to get excited about Cracker Barrel Old Country Store from a dividend perspective.

On that note, you'll want to research what risks Cracker Barrel Old Country Store is facing. To help with this, we've discovered 1 warning sign for Cracker Barrel Old Country Store that you should be aware of before investing in their shares.

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. 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.