Analog Devices (NASDAQ:ADI) Is Increasing Its Dividend To US$0.76

The board of Analog Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADI) has announced that it will be increasing its dividend on the 8th of March to US$0.76. This makes the dividend yield 1.8%, which is above the industry average.

See our latest analysis for Analog Devices

Analog Devices' Earnings Easily Cover the Distributions

While it is great to have a strong dividend yield, we should also consider whether the payment is sustainable. Before making this announcement, Analog Devices' dividend was higher than its profits, but the free cash flows quite comfortably covered it. Given that the dividend is a cash outflow, we think that cash is more important than accounting measures of profit when assessing the dividend, so this is a mitigating factor.

Earnings per share is forecast to rise by 66.0% over the next year. Assuming the dividend continues along recent trends, our estimates say the payout ratio could reach 76%. This is definitely on the higher side, but we wouldn't necessarily say this is unsustainable.

Analog Devices Has A Solid Track Record

The company has been paying a dividend for a long time, and it has been quite stable which gives us confidence in the future dividend potential. The dividend has gone from US$1.00 in 2012 to the most recent annual payment of US$3.04. This means that it has been growing its distributions at 12% per annum over that time. It is good to see that there has been strong dividend growth, and that there haven't been any cuts for a long time.

Analog Devices May Find It Hard To Grow The Dividend

The company's investors will be pleased to have been receiving dividend income for some time. Unfortunately things aren't as good as they seem. Over the past five years, it looks as though Analog Devices' EPS has declined at around 3.8% a year. Declining earnings will inevitably lead to the company paying a lower dividend in line with lower profits. However, the next year is actually looking up, with earnings set to rise. We would just wait until it becomes a pattern before getting too excited.

We'd also point out that Analog Devices has issued stock equal to 42% of shares outstanding. Regularly doing this can be detrimental - it's hard to grow dividends per share when new shares are regularly being created.

In Summary

Overall, this is probably not a great income stock, even though the dividend is being raised at the moment. The company is generating plenty of cash, but we still think the dividend is a bit high for comfort. We would probably look elsewhere for an income investment.

Investors generally tend to favour companies with a consistent, stable dividend policy as opposed to those operating an irregular one. At the same time, there are other factors our readers should be conscious of before pouring capital into a stock. For example, we've picked out 4 warning signs for Analog Devices that investors should know about before committing capital to this stock. Looking for more high-yielding dividend ideas? Try our collection of 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.