Is It Smart To Buy Central Pacific Financial Corp. (NYSE:CPF) Before It Goes Ex-Dividend?
Some investors rely on dividends for growing their wealth, and if you're one of those dividend sleuths, you might be intrigued to know that Central Pacific Financial Corp. (NYSE:CPF) is about to go ex-dividend in just 4 days. If you purchase the stock on or after the 27th of February, you won't be eligible to receive this dividend, when it is paid on the 16th of March.
Central Pacific Financial's next dividend payment will be US$0.23 per share, and in the last 12 months, the company paid a total of US$0.92 per share. Based on the last year's worth of payments, Central Pacific Financial stock has a trailing yield of around 3.3% on the current share price of $27.91. 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.
See our latest analysis for Central Pacific Financial
If a company pays out more in dividends than it earned, then the dividend might become unsustainable - hardly an ideal situation. Central Pacific Financial paid out a comfortable 44% of its profit last year.
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?
Stocks in companies that generate sustainable earnings growth often make the best dividend prospects, as it is easier to lift the dividend when earnings are rising. If business enters a downturn and the dividend is cut, the company could see its value fall precipitously. Fortunately for readers, Central Pacific Financial's earnings per share have been growing at 14% a year for the past five years.
Many investors will assess a company's dividend performance by evaluating how much the dividend payments have changed over time. In the past seven years, Central Pacific Financial has increased its dividend at approximately 16% a year on average. It's exciting to see that both earnings and dividends per share have grown rapidly over the past few years.
Final Takeaway
From a dividend perspective, should investors buy or avoid Central Pacific Financial? When companies are growing rapidly and retaining a majority of the profits within the business, it's usually a sign that reinvesting earnings creates more value than paying dividends to shareholders. Perhaps even more importantly - this can sometimes signal management is focused on the long term future of the business. We think this is a pretty attractive combination, and would be interested in investigating Central Pacific Financial more closely.
Wondering what the future holds for Central Pacific Financial? See what the four analysts we track are forecasting, with this visualisation of its historical and future estimated earnings and cash flow
If you're in the market for dividend stocks, we recommend checking our list of top dividend stocks with a greater than 2% yield and an upcoming dividend.
If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. 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. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned.
We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Thank you for reading.
