If you are interested in cashing in on CNB Financial Corporation’s (NASDAQ:CCNE) upcoming dividend of $0.17 per share, you only have 2 days left to buy the shares before its ex-dividend date, 31 May 2018, in time for dividends payable on the 15 June 2018. Is this future income a persuasive enough catalyst for investors to think about CNB Financial as an investment today? Below, I’m going to look at the latest data and analyze the stock and its dividend property in further detail. Check out our latest analysis for CNB Financial

5 questions I ask before picking a dividend stock

When assessing a stock as a potential addition to my dividend Portfolio, I look at these five areas:

• Is it paying an annual yield above 75% of dividend payers?

• Has its dividend been stable over the past (i.e. no missed payments or significant payout cuts)?

• Has the amount of dividend per share grown over the past?

• Is its earnings sufficient to payout dividend at the current rate?

• Based on future earnings growth, will it be able to continue to payout dividend at the current rate?

Does CNB Financial pass our checks?

The company currently pays out 41.23% of its earnings as a dividend, according to its trailing twelve-month data, which means that the dividend is covered by earnings. Furthermore, analysts have not forecasted a dividends per share for the future, which makes it hard to determine the yield shareholders should expect, and whether the current payout is sustainable, moving forward. Reliablity is an important factor for dividend stocks, particularly for income investors who want a strong track record of payment and a positive outlook for future payout. CCNE has increased its DPS from $0.64 to $0.66 in the past 10 years. During this period it has not missed a payment, as one would expect for a company increasing its dividend. These are all positive signs of a great, reliable dividend stock. Compared to its peers, CNB Financial produces a yield of 2.15%, which is on the low-side for Banks stocks.

Next Steps:

Keeping in mind the dividend characteristics above, CNB Financial is definitely worth considering for investors looking to build a dedicated income portfolio. 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 examine:

1. Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for CCNE’s future growth? Take a look at our free research report of analyst consensus for CCNE’s outlook.

2. Valuation: What is CCNE 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 CCNE is currently mispriced by the market.

3. Other Dividend Rockstars: Are there better dividend payers with stronger fundamentals out there? Check out our free list of these great stocks here.

To help readers see pass the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price sensitive company announcements.

The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned.