It looks like Asia Financial Holdings Limited (HKG:662) is about to go ex-dividend in the next 3 days. If you purchase the stock on or after the 27th of May, you won't be eligible to receive this dividend, when it is paid on the 12th of June.

Asia Financial Holdings's upcoming dividend is HK$0.05 a share, following on from the last 12 months, when the company distributed a total of HK$0.085 per share to shareholders. Looking at the last 12 months of distributions, Asia Financial Holdings has a trailing yield of approximately 2.5% on its current stock price of HK$3.4. 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 investigate whether Asia Financial Holdings can afford its dividend, and if the dividend could grow.

Check out our latest analysis for Asia Financial Holdings

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. Asia Financial Holdings is paying out just 20% of its profit after tax, which is comfortably low and leaves plenty of breathing room in the case of adverse events.

Companies that pay out less in dividends than they earn in profits generally have more sustainable dividends. The lower the payout ratio, the more wiggle room the business has before it could be forced to cut the dividend.

Click here to see how much of its profit Asia Financial Holdings paid out over the last 12 months.

Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?

Businesses with strong growth prospects usually make the best dividend payers, because it's easier to grow dividends when earnings per share are improving. Investors love dividends, so if earnings fall and the dividend is reduced, expect a stock to be sold off heavily at the same time. This is why it's a relief to see Asia Financial Holdings earnings per share are up 3.3% per annum over the last five years.

Another key way to measure a company's dividend prospects is by measuring its historical rate of dividend growth. Asia Financial Holdings has delivered 6.6% dividend growth per year on average over the past ten years. It's encouraging to see the company lifting dividends while earnings are growing, suggesting at least some corporate interest in rewarding shareholders.

Final Takeaway

From a dividend perspective, should investors buy or avoid Asia Financial Holdings? Asia Financial Holdings 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. Asia Financial Holdings ticks a lot of boxes for us from a dividend perspective, and we think these characteristics should mark the company as deserving of further attention.

Want to learn more about Asia Financial Holdings's dividend performance? Check out this visualisation of its historical revenue and earnings growth.

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.

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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. Thank you for reading.