Home Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBCP) Looks Like A Good Stock, And It's Going Ex-Dividend Soon

Home Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBCP) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next four days. This means that investors who purchase shares on or after the 7th of August will not receive the dividend, which will be paid on the 21st of August.

Home Bancorp's upcoming dividend is US$0.22 a share, following on from the last 12 months, when the company distributed a total of US$0.88 per share to shareholders. Based on the last year's worth of payments, Home Bancorp stock has a trailing yield of around 3.8% on the current share price of $23.38. 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.

See our latest analysis for Home Bancorp

Dividends are typically paid out of company income, so if a company pays out more than it earned, its dividend is usually at a higher risk of being cut. That's why it's good to see Home Bancorp paying out a modest 43% of its earnings.

When a company paid out less in dividends than it earned in profit, this generally suggests its dividend is affordable. The lower the % of its profit that it pays out, the greater the margin of safety for the dividend if the business enters a downturn.

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

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 Home Bancorp, with earnings per share up 5.9% on average over the last five years.

The main way most investors will assess a company's dividend prospects is by checking the historical rate of dividend growth. Since the start of our data, six years ago, Home Bancorp has lifted its dividend by approximately 21% a year on average. It's encouraging to see the company lifting dividends while earnings are growing, suggesting at least some corporate interest in rewarding shareholders.

The Bottom Line

Should investors buy Home Bancorp for the upcoming dividend? Home Bancorp has seen its earnings per share grow slowly in recent years, and the company reinvests more than half of its profits in the business, which generally bodes well for its future prospects. We think this is a pretty attractive combination, and would be interested in investigating Home Bancorp more closely.

While it's tempting to invest in Home Bancorp for the dividends alone, you should always be mindful of the risks involved. To that end, you should learn about the 3 warning signs we've spotted with Home Bancorp (including 1 which makes us a bit uncomfortable).

A common investment mistake is buying the first interesting stock you see. Here you can find a list of promising dividend stocks with a greater than 2% yield and an upcoming dividend.

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. 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.

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