In This Article:
The board of The First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FBMS) has announced that it will be paying its dividend of $0.23 on the 24th of August, an increased payment from last year's comparable dividend. This takes the annual payment to 3.0% of the current stock price, which is about average for the industry.
Check out our latest analysis for First Bancshares
First Bancshares' Dividend Forecasted To Be Well Covered By Earnings
We like a dividend to be consistent over the long term, so checking whether it is sustainable is important.
First Bancshares has established itself as a dividend paying company with over 10 years history of distributing earnings to shareholders. Based on First Bancshares' last earnings report, the payout ratio is at a decent 33%, meaning that the company is able to pay out its dividend with a bit of room to spare.
Looking forward, earnings per share is forecast to rise by 12.3% over the next year. If the dividend continues along recent trends, we estimate the future payout ratio will be 41%, which is in the range that makes us comfortable with the sustainability of the dividend.
First Bancshares Has A Solid Track Record
Even over a long history of paying dividends, the company's distributions have been remarkably stable. Since 2013, the dividend has gone from $0.15 total annually to $0.92. This means that it has been growing its distributions at 20% per annum over that time. We can see that payments have shown some very nice upward momentum without faltering, which provides some reassurance that future payments will also be reliable.
We Could See First Bancshares' Dividend Growing
Investors who have held shares in the company for the past few years will be happy with the dividend income they have received. We are encouraged to see that First Bancshares has grown earnings per share at 8.7% per year over the past five years. First Bancshares definitely has the potential to grow its dividend in the future with earnings on an uptrend and a low payout ratio.
An additional note is that the company has been raising capital by issuing stock equal to 53% of shares outstanding in the last 12 months. Trying to grow the dividend when issuing new shares reminds us of the ancient Greek tale of Sisyphus - perpetually pushing a boulder uphill. Companies that consistently issue new shares are often suboptimal from a dividend perspective.
First Bancshares Looks Like A Great Dividend Stock
Overall, we think this could be an attractive income stock, and it is only getting better by paying a higher dividend this year. The company is easily earning enough to cover its dividend payments and it is great to see that these earnings are being translated into cash flow. Taking this all into consideration, this looks like it could be a good dividend opportunity.