It Might Not Be A Great Idea To Buy BGC Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:BGCP) For Its Next Dividend

BGC Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:BGCP) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next 4 days. Ex-dividend means that investors that purchase the stock on or after the 16th of November will not receive this dividend, which will be paid on the 1st of December.

BGC Partners's next dividend payment will be US$0.01 per share. Last year, in total, the company distributed US$0.04 to shareholders. Looking at the last 12 months of distributions, BGC Partners has a trailing yield of approximately 1.1% on its current stock price of $3.51. We love seeing companies pay a dividend, but it's also important to be sure that laying the golden eggs isn't going to kill our golden goose! So we need to investigate whether BGC Partners can afford its dividend, and if the dividend could grow.

See our latest analysis for BGC Partners

If a company pays out more in dividends than it earned, then the dividend might become unsustainable - hardly an ideal situation. An unusually high payout ratio of 236% of its profit suggests something is happening other than the usual distribution of profits to shareholders.

When the dividend payout ratio is high, as it is in this case, the dividend is usually at greater risk of being cut in the future.

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

Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?

When earnings decline, dividend companies become much harder to analyse and own safely. Investors love dividends, so if earnings fall and the dividend is reduced, expect a stock to be sold off heavily at the same time. Readers will understand then, why we're concerned to see BGC Partners's earnings per share have dropped 28% a year over the past five years. Such a sharp decline casts doubt on the future sustainability of the dividend.

Many investors will assess a company's dividend performance by evaluating how much the dividend payments have changed over time. BGC Partners's dividend payments per share have declined at 19% per year on average over the past 10 years, which is uninspiring. It's never nice to see earnings and dividends falling, but at least management has cut the dividend rather than potentially risk the company's health in an attempt to maintain it.

The Bottom Line

Is BGC Partners worth buying for its dividend? Earnings per share are in decline and BGC Partners is paying out what we feel is an uncomfortably high percentage of its profit as dividends. Generally we think dividend investors should avoid businesses in this situation, as high payout ratios and declining earnings can lead to the dividend being cut. These characteristics don't generally lead to outstanding dividend performance, and investors may not be happy with the results of owning this stock for its dividend.

So if you're still interested in BGC Partners despite it's poor dividend qualities, you should be well informed on some of the risks facing this stock. To help with this, we've discovered 5 warning signs for BGC Partners (2 make us uncomfortable!) that you ought to be aware of before buying the 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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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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