Marwest Apartment Real Estate Investment Trust (CVE:MAR.UN) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next 3 days. The ex-dividend date is usually set to be one business day before the record date which is the cut-off date on which you must be present on the company's books as a shareholder in order to receive the dividend. The ex-dividend date is an important date to be aware of as any purchase of the stock made on or after this date might mean a late settlement that doesn't show on the record date. Therefore, if you purchase Marwest Apartment Real Estate Investment Trust's shares on or after the 31st of July, you won't be eligible to receive the dividend, when it is paid on the 15th of August.
The company's next dividend payment will be CA$0.0013 per share, on the back of last year when the company paid a total of CA$0.015 to shareholders. Calculating the last year's worth of payments shows that Marwest Apartment Real Estate Investment Trust has a trailing yield of 2.2% on the current share price of CA$0.71. Dividends are a major contributor to investment returns for long term holders, but only if the dividend continues to be paid. That's why we should always check whether the dividend payments appear sustainable, and if the company is growing.
Dividends are typically paid from company earnings. If a company pays more in dividends than it earned in profit, then the dividend could be unsustainable. Marwest Apartment Real Estate Investment Trust paid out just 2.2% of its profit last year, which we think is conservatively low and leaves plenty of margin for unexpected circumstances.
When a company paid out less in dividends than it earned in profit, this generally suggests its dividend is affordable. The lower the % of its profit that it pays out, the greater the margin of safety for the dividend if the business enters a downturn.
Companies with consistently growing earnings per share generally make the best dividend stocks, as they usually find it easier to grow dividends per share. If earnings decline and the company is forced to cut its dividend, investors could watch the value of their investment go up in smoke. For that reason, it's encouraging to see Marwest Apartment Real Estate Investment Trust's earnings over the past year have risen 29%. While we'd be remiss not to point out that a year is a very short time in dividend investing, it's an encouraging sign so far.
One year is a very short time frame in the pantheon of investing, so we wouldn't get too hung up on these numbers.
Many investors will assess a company's dividend performance by evaluating how much the dividend payments have changed over time. In the last three years, Marwest Apartment Real Estate Investment Trust has lifted its dividend by approximately 1.3% a year on average. It's good to see both earnings and the dividend have improved - although the former has been rising much quicker than the latter, possibly due to the company reinvesting more of its profits in growth.
To Sum It Up
Is Marwest Apartment Real Estate Investment Trust worth buying for its dividend? When companies are growing rapidly and retaining a majority of the profits within the business, it's usually a sign that reinvesting earnings creates more value than paying dividends to shareholders. Perhaps even more importantly - this can sometimes signal management is focused on the long term future of the business. Overall, Marwest Apartment Real Estate Investment Trust looks like a promising dividend stock in this analysis, and we think it would be worth investigating further.
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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. 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.
