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MGIC Investment Corporation (NYSE:MTG) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next three days. Typically, the ex-dividend date is one business day before the record date which is the date on which a company determines the shareholders eligible 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. Accordingly, MGIC Investment investors that purchase the stock on or after the 10th of August will not receive the dividend, which will be paid on the 25th of August.
The company's upcoming dividend is US$0.10 a share, following on from the last 12 months, when the company distributed a total of US$0.40 per share to shareholders. Looking at the last 12 months of distributions, MGIC Investment has a trailing yield of approximately 2.8% on its current stock price of $14.52. 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 check whether the dividend payments are covered, and if earnings are growing.
See our latest analysis for MGIC Investment
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. MGIC Investment has a low and conservative payout ratio of just 14% of its income after tax.
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 the company's payout ratio, plus analyst estimates of its future dividends.
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. It's encouraging to see MGIC Investment has grown its earnings rapidly, up 20% a year for the past five years.
Another key way to measure a company's dividend prospects is by measuring its historical rate of dividend growth. MGIC Investment has delivered an average of 19% per year annual increase in its dividend, based on the past three years of dividend payments. It's great to see earnings per share growing rapidly over several years, and dividends per share growing right along with it.
To Sum It Up
Is MGIC Investment an attractive dividend stock, or better left on the shelf? 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. This is one of the most attractive investment combinations under this analysis, as it can create substantial value for investors over the long run. In summary, MGIC Investment appears to have some promise as a dividend stock, and we'd suggest taking a closer look at it.