Attention dividend hunters! Hubbell Incorporated (NYSE:HUBB) will be distributing its dividend of $0.77 per share on the 15 June 2018, and will start trading ex-dividend in 2 days time on the 30 May 2018. Should you diversify into Hubbell and boost your portfolio income stream? Well, keep on reading because today, I’m going to look at the latest data and analyze the stock and its dividend property in further detail. See our latest analysis for Hubbell

5 questions I ask before picking a dividend stock

When researching a dividend stock, I always follow the following screening criteria:

• Is its annual yield among the top 25% of dividend-paying companies?

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

• Has dividend per share risen in the past couple of years?

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

• Will it have the ability to keep paying its dividends going forward?

Does Hubbell pass our checks?

The current trailing twelve-month payout ratio for the stock is 67.60%, meaning the dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. In the near future, analysts are predicting lower payout ratio of 43.10%, leading to a dividend yield of around 3.00%. However, EPS should increase to $6.52, meaning that the lower payout ratio does not necessarily implicate a lower dividend payment. If there is one thing that you want to be reliable in your life, it’s dividend stocks and their constant income stream. Although HUBB’s per share payments have increased in the past 10 years, it has not been a completely smooth ride. Investors have seen reductions in the dividend per share in the past, although, it has picked up again. Compared to its peers, Hubbell generates a yield of 2.79%, which is high for Electrical stocks but still below the market’s top dividend payers.

Next Steps:

Taking into account the dividend metrics, Hubbell ticks most of the boxes as a strong dividend investment, putting it in my list of top dividend payers. Given that this is purely a dividend analysis, you should always research extensively before deciding whether or not a stock is an appropriate investment for you. I always recommend analysing the company’s fundamentals and underlying business before making an investment decision. Below, I’ve compiled three essential factors you should look at:

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

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

3. Other 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.