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CB Financial Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBFV) stock is about to trade ex-dividend in 3 days. The ex-dividend date is one business day before a company's record date, which is the date on which the company determines which shareholders are entitled to receive a dividend. The ex-dividend date is important because any transaction on a stock needs to have been settled before the record date in order to be eligible for a dividend. This means that investors who purchase CB Financial Services' shares on or after the 19th of May will not receive the dividend, which will be paid on the 31st of May.
The company's upcoming dividend is US$0.24 a share, following on from the last 12 months, when the company distributed a total of US$0.96 per share to shareholders. Last year's total dividend payments show that CB Financial Services has a trailing yield of 4.3% on the current share price of $22.44. Dividends are a major contributor to investment returns for long term holders, but only if the dividend continues to be paid. So we need to investigate whether CB Financial Services can afford its dividend, and if the dividend could grow.
See our latest analysis for CB Financial Services
Dividends are usually paid out of company profits, so if a company pays out more than it earned then its dividend is usually at greater risk of being cut. CB Financial Services paid out a comfortable 43% of its profit last year.
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.
Click here to see the company's payout ratio, plus analyst estimates of its future dividends.
Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?
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 business enters a downturn and the dividend is cut, the company could see its value fall precipitously. This is why it's a relief to see CB Financial Services earnings per share are up 4.2% per annum over the last five years.
Many investors will assess a company's dividend performance by evaluating how much the dividend payments have changed over time. CB Financial Services has delivered 1.7% dividend growth per year on average over the past eight years.
The Bottom Line
From a dividend perspective, should investors buy or avoid CB Financial Services? CB Financial Services has seen its earnings per share grow slowly in recent years, and the company reinvests more than half of its profits in the business, which generally bodes well for its future prospects. In summary, CB Financial Services appears to have some promise as a dividend stock, and we'd suggest taking a closer look at it.