Should Income Investors Look At Frontier Transport Holdings Limited (JSE:FTH) Before Its Ex-Dividend?

It looks like Frontier Transport Holdings Limited (JSE:FTH) is about to go ex-dividend in the next 4 days. The ex-dividend date is one business day before a company's record date, which is the date on which the company determines which shareholders are entitled to receive a dividend. It is important to be aware of the ex-dividend date because any trade on the stock needs to have been settled on or before the record date. In other words, investors can purchase Frontier Transport Holdings' shares before the 12th of June in order to be eligible for the dividend, which will be paid on the 18th of June.

The company's next dividend payment will be R00.242 per share, on the back of last year when the company paid a total of R0.59 to shareholders. Calculating the last year's worth of payments shows that Frontier Transport Holdings has a trailing yield of 9.3% on the current share price of R06.36. We love seeing companies pay a dividend, but it's also important to be sure that laying the golden eggs isn't going to kill our golden goose! We need to see whether the dividend is covered by earnings and if it's growing.

View our latest analysis for Frontier Transport Holdings

Dividends are typically paid from company earnings. If a company pays more in dividends than it earned in profit, then the dividend could be unsustainable. Frontier Transport Holdings is paying out an acceptable 50% of its profit, a common payout level among most companies. Yet cash flow is typically more important than profit for assessing dividend sustainability, so we should always check if the company generated enough cash to afford its dividend. Thankfully its dividend payments took up just 34% of the free cash flow it generated, which is a comfortable payout ratio.

It's positive to see that Frontier Transport Holdings's dividend is covered by both profits and cash flow, since this is generally a sign that the dividend is sustainable, and a lower payout ratio usually suggests a greater margin of safety before the dividend gets cut.

Click here to see how much of its profit Frontier Transport Holdings paid out over the last 12 months.

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. Investors love dividends, so if earnings fall and the dividend is reduced, expect a stock to be sold off heavily at the same time. With that in mind, we're encouraged by the steady growth at Frontier Transport Holdings, with earnings per share up 7.7% on average over the last five years. Decent historical earnings per share growth suggests Frontier Transport Holdings has been effectively growing value for shareholders. However, it's now paying out more than half its earnings as dividends. Therefore it's unlikely that the company will be able to reinvest heavily in its business, which could presage slower growth in the future.

Many investors will assess a company's dividend performance by evaluating how much the dividend payments have changed over time. Frontier Transport Holdings has delivered 13% dividend growth per year on average over the past six years. We're glad to see dividends rising alongside earnings over a number of years, which may be a sign the company intends to share the growth with shareholders.

To Sum It Up

Is Frontier Transport Holdings worth buying for its dividend? Earnings per share growth has been modest and Frontier Transport Holdings paid out over half of its profits and less than half of its free cash flow, although both payout ratios are within normal limits. In summary, while it has some positive characteristics, we're not inclined to race out and buy Frontier Transport Holdings today.

So while Frontier Transport Holdings looks good from a dividend perspective, it's always worthwhile being up to date with the risks involved in this stock. For example, we've found 3 warning signs for Frontier Transport Holdings that we recommend you consider before investing in the business.

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.