Cowen Inc. (NASDAQ:COWN) Looks Interesting, And It's About To Pay A Dividend

Cowen Inc. (NASDAQ:COWN) stock is about to trade ex-dividend in four days. The ex-dividend date is one business day before the record date, which is the cut-off date for shareholders to be present on the company's books to be eligible for a dividend payment. 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. Thus, you can purchase Cowen's shares before the 28th of February in order to receive the dividend, which the company will pay on the 15th of March.

The company's next dividend payment will be US$0.12 per share, and in the last 12 months, the company paid a total of US$0.48 per share. Calculating the last year's worth of payments shows that Cowen has a trailing yield of 1.6% on the current share price of $29.45. Dividends are an important source of income to many shareholders, but the health of the business is crucial to maintaining those dividends. As a result, readers should always check whether Cowen has been able to grow its dividends, or if the dividend might be cut.

Check out our latest analysis for Cowen

Dividends are typically paid out of company income, so if a company pays out more than it earned, its dividend is usually at a higher risk of being cut. Cowen is paying out just 4.0% of its profit after tax, which is comfortably low and leaves plenty of breathing room in the case of adverse events.

When a company paid out less in dividends than it earned in profit, this generally suggests its dividend is affordable. The lower the % of its profit that it pays out, the greater the margin of safety for the dividend if the business enters a downturn.

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

Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?

Companies with consistently growing earnings per share generally make the best dividend stocks, as they usually find it easier to grow dividends per share. If business enters a downturn and the dividend is cut, the company could see its value fall precipitously. It's encouraging to see Cowen has grown its earnings rapidly, up 75% a year for the past five years.

Many investors will assess a company's dividend performance by evaluating how much the dividend payments have changed over time. Since the start of our data, two years ago, Cowen has lifted its dividend by approximately 73% a year on average. Both per-share earnings and dividends have both been growing rapidly in recent times, which is great to see.

To Sum It Up

From a dividend perspective, should investors buy or avoid Cowen? Companies like Cowen that are growing rapidly and paying out a low fraction of earnings, are usually reinvesting heavily in their business. Perhaps even more importantly - this can sometimes signal management is focused on the long term future of the business. Cowen ticks a lot of boxes for us from a dividend perspective, and we think these characteristics should mark the company as deserving of further attention.

While it's tempting to invest in Cowen for the dividends alone, you should always be mindful of the risks involved. For instance, we've identified 4 warning signs for Cowen (1 is a bit concerning) you should be aware of.

A common investing mistake is buying the first interesting stock you see. Here you can find a full list of high-yield dividend stocks.

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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.