Only Two Days Left To Cash In On F&G Annuities & Life's (NYSE:FG) Dividend

Regular readers will know that we love our dividends at Simply Wall St, which is why it's exciting to see F&G Annuities & Life, Inc. (NYSE:FG) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next 2 days. Typically, the ex-dividend date is one business day before the record date which is the date on which a company determines the shareholders eligible to receive a dividend. The ex-dividend date is important as the process of settlement involves two full business days. So if you miss that date, you would not show up on the company's books on the record date. Thus, you can purchase F&G Annuities & Life's shares before the 14th of March in order to receive the dividend, which the company will pay on the 29th of March.

The company's upcoming dividend is US$0.21 a share, following on from the last 12 months, when the company distributed a total of US$0.84 per share to shareholders. Last year's total dividend payments show that F&G Annuities & Life has a trailing yield of 2.3% on the current share price of US$35.99. Dividends are an important source of income to many shareholders, but the health of the business is crucial to maintaining those dividends. So we need to check whether the dividend payments are covered, and if earnings are growing.

View our latest analysis for F&G Annuities & Life

Dividends are usually paid out of company profits, so if a company pays out more than it earned then its dividend is usually at greater risk of being cut. F&G Annuities & Life paid a dividend last year despite being unprofitable. This might be a one-off event, but it's not a sustainable state of affairs in the long run.

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

Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?

Businesses with strong growth prospects usually make the best dividend payers, because it's easier to grow dividends when earnings per share are improving. If business enters a downturn and the dividend is cut, the company could see its value fall precipitously. F&G Annuities & Life was unprofitable last year, but at least the general trend suggests its earnings have been improving over the past five years. Even so, an unprofitable company whose business does not quickly recover is usually not a good candidate for dividend investors.

Given that F&G Annuities & Life has only been paying a dividend for a year, there's not much of a past history to draw insight from.

We update our analysis on F&G Annuities & Life every 24 hours, so you can always get the latest insights on its financial health, here.

To Sum It Up

From a dividend perspective, should investors buy or avoid F&G Annuities & Life? It's hard to get used to F&G Annuities & Life paying a dividend despite reporting a loss over the past year. It doesn't appear an outstanding opportunity, but could be worth a closer look.

If you're not too concerned about F&G Annuities & Life's ability to pay dividends, you should still be mindful of some of the other risks that this business faces. Every company has risks, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for F&G Annuities & Life you should know about.

Generally, we wouldn't recommend just buying the first dividend stock you see. Here's a curated list of interesting stocks that are strong dividend payers.

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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.