Only 2 Days Left Until Lancaster Colony Corporation (NASDAQ:LANC) Trades Ex-Dividend

On the 29 March 2019, Lancaster Colony Corporation (NASDAQ:LANC) will be paying shareholders an upcoming dividend amount of US$0.65 per share. However, investors must have bought the company's stock before 07 March 2019 in order to qualify for the payment. That means you have only 2 days left! Should you diversify into Lancaster Colony 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.

Check out our latest analysis for Lancaster Colony

5 questions to ask before buying a dividend stock

When assessing a stock as a potential addition to my dividend Portfolio, I look at these five areas:

• Is their annual yield among the top 25% of dividend payers?
• Has it paid dividend every year without dramatically reducing payout in the past?
• Has dividend per share amount increased over the past?
• Is is 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 Lancaster Colony fare?

Lancaster Colony has a trailing twelve-month payout ratio of 46%, meaning the dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Furthermore, analysts have not forecasted a dividends per share for the future, which makes it hard to determine the yield shareholders should expect, and whether the current payout is sustainable, moving forward.

When considering the sustainability of dividends, it is also worth checking the cash flow of a company. A company with strong cash flow, relative to earnings, can sometimes sustain a high pay out ratio.

If there is one thing that you want to be reliable in your life, it's dividend stocks and their constant income stream. LANC has increased its DPS from $1.14 to $2.6 in the past 10 years. During this period it has not missed a payment, as one would expect for a company increasing its dividend. This is an impressive feat, which makes LANC a true dividend rockstar.

Relative to peers, Lancaster Colony generates a yield of 1.7%, which is on the low-side for Food stocks.

Next Steps:

With this in mind, I definitely rank Lancaster Colony as a strong dividend stock, and makes it worth further research for anyone who likes steady income generation from their portfolio. Given that this is purely a dividend analysis, I urge potential investors to try and get a good understanding of the underlying business and its fundamentals before deciding on an investment. There are three relevant factors you should further examine:

1. Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for LANC’s future growth? Take a look at our free research report of analyst consensus for LANC’s outlook.
2. Valuation: What is LANC 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 LANC is currently mispriced by the market.
3. Other Dividend Rockstars: Are there better dividend payers with stronger fundamentals out there? Check out our free list of these great stocks here.

We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.

If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. 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. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.