In This Article:
Regular readers will know that we love our dividends at Simply Wall St, which is why it's exciting to see CNO Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CNO) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next three days. The ex-dividend date occurs one day before the record date which is the day on which shareholders need to be on the company's books in order to receive a dividend. The ex-dividend date is of consequence because whenever a stock is bought or sold, the trade takes at least two business day to settle. Accordingly, CNO Financial Group investors that purchase the stock on or after the 9th of June will not receive the dividend, which will be paid on the 24th of June.
The company's upcoming dividend is US$0.14 a share, following on from the last 12 months, when the company distributed a total of US$0.56 per share to shareholders. Based on the last year's worth of payments, CNO Financial Group stock has a trailing yield of around 2.8% on the current share price of $20.06. If you buy this business for its dividend, you should have an idea of whether CNO Financial Group's dividend is reliable and sustainable. We need to see whether the dividend is covered by earnings and if it's growing.
Check out our latest analysis for CNO Financial Group
Dividends are typically paid out of company income, so if a company pays out more than it earned, its dividend is usually at a higher risk of being cut. CNO Financial Group has a low and conservative payout ratio of just 16% of its income after tax.
Generally speaking, the lower a company's payout ratios, the more resilient its dividend usually is.
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 fall far enough, the company could be forced to cut its dividend. Fortunately for readers, CNO Financial Group's earnings per share have been growing at 12% a year for the past five years.
Many investors will assess a company's dividend performance by evaluating how much the dividend payments have changed over time. CNO Financial Group has delivered 21% dividend growth per year on average over the past 10 years. Both per-share earnings and dividends have both been growing rapidly in recent times, which is great to see.
To Sum It Up
Is CNO Financial Group worth buying for its dividend? Typically, companies that are growing rapidly and paying out a low fraction of earnings are keeping the profits for reinvestment in the business. This strategy can add significant value to shareholders over the long term - as long as it's done without issuing too many new shares. In summary, CNO Financial Group appears to have some promise as a dividend stock, and we'd suggest taking a closer look at it.