Capital One Financial Corporation (NYSE:COF) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next four 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. Thus, you can purchase Capital One Financial's shares before the 5th of August in order to receive the dividend, which the company will pay on the 19th of August.

The company's next dividend payment will be US$0.60 per share, and in the last 12 months, the company paid a total of US$2.40 per share. Calculating the last year's worth of payments shows that Capital One Financial has a trailing yield of 2.2% on the current share price of $109.83. Dividends are a major contributor to investment returns for long term holders, but only if the dividend continues to be paid. As a result, readers should always check whether Capital One Financial has been able to grow its dividends, or if the dividend might be cut.

View our latest analysis for Capital One Financial

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. Capital One Financial is paying out just 10% of its profit after tax, which is comfortably low and leaves plenty of breathing room in the case of adverse events.

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?

Stocks in companies that generate sustainable earnings growth often make the best dividend prospects, as it is easier to lift the dividend when earnings are rising. If earnings decline and the company is forced to cut its dividend, investors could watch the value of their investment go up in smoke. That's why it's comforting to see Capital One Financial's earnings have been skyrocketing, up 29% per annum for the past five years.

The main way most investors will assess a company's dividend prospects is by checking the historical rate of dividend growth. Capital One Financial has delivered 28% dividend growth per year on average over the past 10 years. It's exciting to see that both earnings and dividends per share have grown rapidly over the past few years.