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Investors who want to cash in on Orora Limited’s (ASX:ORA) upcoming dividend of AU$0.065 per share have only 4 days left to buy the shares before its ex-dividend date, 27 February 2019, in time for dividends payable on the 11 April 2019. What does this mean for current shareholders and potential investors? Below, I will explain how holding Orora can impact your portfolio income stream, by analysing the stock’s most recent financial data and dividend attributes.
See our latest analysis for Orora
5 checks you should do on a dividend stock
When researching a dividend stock, I always follow the following screening criteria:
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Is its annual yield among the top 25% of dividend-paying companies?
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Has it consistently paid a stable dividend without missing a payment or drastically cutting payout?
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Has dividend per share amount increased over the past?
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Can it afford to pay the current rate of dividends from its earnings?
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Will the company be able to keep paying dividend based on the future earnings growth?
How does Orora fare?
Orora has a trailing twelve-month payout ratio of 71%, which means that the dividend is covered by earnings. In the near future, analysts are predicting a payout ratio of 74% which, assuming the share price stays the same, leads to a dividend yield of around 4.5%. Furthermore, EPS should increase to A$0.19.
If you want to dive deeper into the sustainability of a certain payout ratio, you may wish to consider the cash flow of the business. A company with strong cash flow, relative to earnings, can sometimes sustain a high pay out ratio.
If dividend is a key criteria in your investment consideration, then you need to make sure the dividend stock you’re eyeing out is reliable in its payments. Unfortunately, it is really too early to view Orora as a dividend investment. It has only been consistently paying dividends for 4 years, however, standard practice for reliable payers is to look for a 10-year minimum track record.
Compared to its peers, Orora has a yield of 4.1%, which is high for Packaging stocks but still below the market’s top dividend payers.
Next Steps:
Taking all the above into account, Orora is a complicated pick for dividend investors given that there are a couple of positive things about it as well as negative. But if you are not exclusively a dividend investor, the stock could still be an interesting investment opportunity. Given that this is purely a dividend analysis, you should always research extensively before deciding whether or not a stock is an appropriate investment for you. I always recommend analysing the company’s fundamentals and underlying business before making an investment decision. There are three key factors you should further research: