In This Article:
Regular readers will know that we love our dividends at Simply Wall St, which is why it's exciting to see STV Group plc (LON:STVG) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next 3 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 an important date to be aware of as any purchase of the stock made on or after this date might mean a late settlement that doesn't show on the record date. Meaning, you will need to purchase STV Group's shares before the 18th of April to receive the dividend, which will be paid on the 31st of May.
The company's upcoming dividend is UK£0.074 a share, following on from the last 12 months, when the company distributed a total of UK£0.11 per share to shareholders. Based on the last year's worth of payments, STV Group stock has a trailing yield of around 4.7% on the current share price of UK£2.40. We love seeing companies pay a dividend, but it's also important to be sure that laying the golden eggs isn't going to kill our golden goose! So we need to check whether the dividend payments are covered, and if earnings are growing.
Check out our latest analysis for STV Group
If a company pays out more in dividends than it earned, then the dividend might become unsustainable - hardly an ideal situation. STV Group distributed an unsustainably high 115% of its profit as dividends to shareholders last year. Without more sustainable payment behaviour, the dividend looks precarious. Yet cash flow is typically more important than profit for assessing dividend sustainability, so we should always check if the company generated enough cash to afford its dividend. Over the past year it paid out 200% of its free cash flow as dividends, which is uncomfortably high. We're curious about why the company paid out more cash than it generated last year, since this can be one of the early signs that a dividend may be unsustainable.
As STV Group's dividend was not well covered by either earnings or cash flow, we would be concerned that this dividend could be at risk over the long term.
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. Investors love dividends, so if earnings fall and the dividend is reduced, expect a stock to be sold off heavily at the same time. Fortunately for readers, STV Group's earnings per share have been growing at 19% a year for the past five years. Earnings are growing pretty quickly, which is great, but it's uncomfortably to see the company paying out 115% of earnings. Unless there are extenuating circumstances, we feel this is a clear concern around the sustainability of the dividend.