Shares of Allergan plc (NYSE:AGN) will begin trading ex-dividend in 6 days. To qualify for the dividend check of $0.72 per share, investors must have owned the shares prior to 17 May 2018, which is the last day the company’s management will finalize their list of shareholders to which they will send dividend payments. What does this mean for current shareholders and potential investors? Below, I will explain how holding Allergan can impact your portfolio income stream, by analysing the stock’s most recent financial data and dividend attributes. View our latest analysis for Allergan

5 questions I ask before picking a dividend stock

Whenever I am looking at a potential dividend stock investment, I always check these five metrics:

• Does it pay an annual yield higher than 75% of dividend payers?

• Does it consistently pay out dividends without missing a payment of significantly cutting payout?

• Has dividend per share amount increased over the past?

• Can it afford to pay the current rate of dividends from its earnings?

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

How well does Allergan fit our criteria?

Allergan has a negative payout ratio, meaning that the company is not yet profitable and is paying dividend by dipping into its retained earnings. 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. Unfortunately, it is really too early to view Allergan as a dividend investment. It has only been consistently paying dividends for 2 years, however, standard practice for reliable payers is to look for a 10-year minimum track record. Compared to its peers, Allergan produces a yield of 2.00%, which is on the low-side for Pharmaceuticals stocks.

Next Steps:

Now you know to keep in mind the reason why investors should be careful investing in Allergan for the dividend. On the other hand, if you are not strictly just a dividend investor, the stock could still be offering some interesting investment opportunities. 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 fundamental aspects you should look at:

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

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

3. 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.