Only 6 Days Left Before Prologis Inc (NYSE:PLD) Will Start Trading Ex-Dividend, Should You Buy?

Attention dividend hunters! Prologis Inc (NYSE:PLD) will be distributing its dividend of $0.48 per share on the 29 March 2018, and will start trading ex-dividend in 6 days time on the 14 March 2018. What does this mean for current shareholders and potential investors? Below, I will explain how holding Prologis can impact your portfolio income stream, by analysing the stock's most recent financial data and dividend attributes. Check out our latest analysis for Prologis

5 questions I ask before picking a dividend stock

Whenever I am looking at a potential dividend stock investment, I always check these five metrics:

• Is it paying an annual yield above 75% of dividend payers?
• Has it paid dividend every year without dramatically reducing payout in the past?
• Has the amount of dividend per share grown over the past?
• Is its earnings sufficient to payout dividend at the current rate?
• Will the company be able to keep paying dividend based on the future earnings growth?

How does Prologis fare?

The current trailing twelve-month payout ratio for the stock is 56.85%, which is rather low compared to other REITs. Generally, REITs are expected to pay out the majority of its earnings to provide a regular income stream for their investors. In the near future, analysts are predicting a higher payout ratio of 120.99%, leading to a dividend yield of 3.14%. However, EPS is forecasted to fall to $1.31 in the upcoming year. Therefore, although payout is expected to increase, the fall in earnings may not equate to higher dividend income. This also brings about uncertainty around the sustainability of the payout ratio. If dividend is a key criteria in your investment consideration, then you need to make sure the dividend stock you're eyeing out is reliable in its payments. The reality is that it is too early to consider Prologis as a dividend investment. It has only been consistently paying dividends for 7 years, however, standard practice for reliable payers is to look for a 10-year minimum track record. Relative to peers, Prologis has a yield of 3.12%, which is on the low-side for REITs stocks.

Next Steps:

After digging a little deeper into Prologis's yield, it's easy to see why you should be cautious investing in the company just for the dividend. But if you are not exclusively a dividend investor, the stock could still be an interesting investment opportunity. Given that this is purely a dividend analysis, I recommend taking sufficient time to understand its core business and determine whether the company and its investment properties suit your overall goals. There are three essential aspects you should further research:

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

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com

Simply Wall St analyst Simply Wall St and Simply Wall St have no position in any of the companies mentioned. This article 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.