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Canacol Energy Ltd (TSE:CNE) has announced that it will pay a dividend of $0.052 per share on the 17th of October. The dividend yield will be 9.4% based on this payment which is still above the industry average.
Check out our latest analysis for Canacol Energy
Canacol Energy's Earnings Easily Cover The Distributions
Impressive dividend yields are good, but this doesn't matter much if the payments can't be sustained. Before this announcement, Canacol Energy was paying out 83% of earnings, but a comparatively small 59% of free cash flows. Since the dividend is just paying out cash to shareholders, we care more about the cash payout ratio from which we can see plenty is being left over for reinvestment in the business.
Looking forward, earnings per share is forecast to rise by 142.3% over the next year. Assuming the dividend continues along the course it has been charting recently, our estimates show the payout ratio being 43% which brings it into quite a comfortable range.
Canacol Energy Is Still Building Its Track Record
The dividend has been pretty stable looking back, but the company hasn't been paying one for very long. This makes it tough to judge how it would fare through a full economic cycle. The dividend has gone from an annual total of $0.143 in 2019 to the most recent total annual payment of $0.154. This implies that the company grew its distributions at a yearly rate of about 2.5% over that duration. Canacol Energy hasn't been paying a dividend for very long, so we wouldn't get to excited about its record of growth just yet.
Dividend Growth Could Be Constrained
Some investors will be chomping at the bit to buy some of the company's stock based on its dividend history. We are encouraged to see that Canacol Energy has grown earnings per share at 17% per year over the past five years. EPS has been growing at a reasonable rate, although with most of the profits being paid out to shareholders, growth prospects could be more limited in the future.
In Summary
In summary, while it's good to see that the dividend hasn't been cut, we are a bit cautious about Canacol Energy's payments, as there could be some issues with sustaining them into the future. In the past, the payments have been unstable, but over the short term the dividend could be reliable, with the company generating enough cash to cover it. This company is not in the top tier of income providing stocks.
Investors generally tend to favour companies with a consistent, stable dividend policy as opposed to those operating an irregular one. At the same time, there are other factors our readers should be conscious of before pouring capital into a stock. For instance, we've picked out 2 warning signs for Canacol Energy that investors should take into consideration. Is Canacol Energy not quite the opportunity you were looking for? Why not check out our selection of top dividend stocks.