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It looks like Auburn National Bancorporation, Inc. (NASDAQ:AUBN) is about to go ex-dividend in the next four days. The ex-dividend date occurs one day before the record date which is the day on which shareholders need to be on the company's books in order to receive a dividend. It is important to be aware of the ex-dividend date because any trade on the stock needs to have been settled on or before the record date. Therefore, if you purchase Auburn National Bancorporation's shares on or after the 9th of December, you won't be eligible to receive the dividend, when it is paid on the 27th of December.
The company's next dividend payment will be US$0.26 per share, and in the last 12 months, the company paid a total of US$1.04 per share. Based on the last year's worth of payments, Auburn National Bancorporation stock has a trailing yield of around 3.0% on the current share price of $34.35. If you buy this business for its dividend, you should have an idea of whether Auburn National Bancorporation's dividend is reliable and sustainable. We need to see whether the dividend is covered by earnings and if it's growing.
Check out our latest analysis for Auburn National Bancorporation
If a company pays out more in dividends than it earned, then the dividend might become unsustainable - hardly an ideal situation. That's why it's good to see Auburn National Bancorporation paying out a modest 45% of its earnings.
Generally speaking, the lower a company's payout ratios, the more resilient its dividend usually is.
Click here to see how much of its profit Auburn National Bancorporation paid out over the last 12 months.
Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?
Stocks with flat earnings can still be attractive dividend payers, but it is important to be more conservative with your approach and demand a greater margin for safety when it comes to dividend sustainability. If earnings fall far enough, the company could be forced to cut its dividend. It's not encouraging to see that Auburn National Bancorporation's earnings are effectively flat over the past five years. Better than seeing them fall off a cliff, for sure, but the best dividend stocks grow their earnings meaningfully over the long run.
The main way most investors will assess a company's dividend prospects is by checking the historical rate of dividend growth. Since the start of our data, 10 years ago, Auburn National Bancorporation has lifted its dividend by approximately 2.7% a year on average.
The Bottom Line
Is Auburn National Bancorporation an attractive dividend stock, or better left on the shelf? Earnings per share have been flat in recent years, although Auburn National Bancorporation reinvests more than half its earnings in the business, which could suggest there are some growth projects that have not yet reached fruition. Auburn National Bancorporation 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.