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Readers hoping to buy Bank of Marin Bancorp (NASDAQ:BMRC) for its dividend will need to make their move shortly, as the stock is about to trade ex-dividend. The ex-dividend date is one business day before the record date, which is the cut-off date for shareholders to be present on the company's books to be eligible for a dividend payment. 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. This means that investors who purchase Bank of Marin Bancorp's shares on or after the 8th of August will not receive the dividend, which will be paid on the 15th of August.
The company's next dividend payment will be US$0.25 per share. Last year, in total, the company distributed US$1.00 to shareholders. Looking at the last 12 months of distributions, Bank of Marin Bancorp has a trailing yield of approximately 5.4% on its current stock price of US$18.69. 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! As a result, readers should always check whether Bank of Marin Bancorp has been able to grow its dividends, or if the dividend might be cut.
Check out our latest analysis for Bank of Marin Bancorp
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. Bank of Marin Bancorp reported a loss last year, so it's not great to see that it has continued paying a dividend.
Click here to see the company's payout ratio, plus analyst estimates of its future dividends.
Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?
Businesses with shrinking earnings are tricky from a dividend perspective. If earnings decline and the company is forced to cut its dividend, investors could watch the value of their investment go up in smoke. Bank of Marin Bancorp was unprofitable last year and, unfortunately, the general trend suggests its earnings have been in decline over the last five years, making us wonder if the dividend is sustainable at all.
Many investors will assess a company's dividend performance by evaluating how much the dividend payments have changed over time. In the past 10 years, Bank of Marin Bancorp has increased its dividend at approximately 11% a year on average.
We update our analysis on Bank of Marin Bancorp every 24 hours, so you can always get the latest insights on its financial health, here.
To Sum It Up
From a dividend perspective, should investors buy or avoid Bank of Marin Bancorp? First, it's not great to see the company paying a dividend despite being loss-making over the last year. Worse, the general trend in its earnings looks negative in recent years. Bank of Marin Bancorp doesn't appear to have a lot going for it, and we're not inclined to take a risk on owning it for the dividend.