In This Article:
Some investors rely on dividends for growing their wealth, and if you're one of those dividend sleuths, you might be intrigued to know that Allianz SE (ETR:ALV) is about to go ex-dividend in just 4 days. The ex-dividend date is two business days before a company's record date in most cases, 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. In other words, investors can purchase Allianz's shares before the 9th of May in order to be eligible for the dividend, which will be paid on the 13th of May.
The company's next dividend payment will be €15.40 per share. Last year, in total, the company distributed €15.40 to shareholders. Based on the last year's worth of payments, Allianz stock has a trailing yield of around 4.2% on the current share price of €370.00. If you buy this business for its dividend, you should have an idea of whether Allianz's dividend is reliable and sustainable. We need to see whether the dividend is covered by earnings and if it's growing.
We check all companies for important risks. See what we found for Allianz in our free report.
If a company pays out more in dividends than it earned, then the dividend might become unsustainable - hardly an ideal situation. Allianz paid out 61% of its earnings to investors last year, a normal payout level for most businesses.
Generally speaking, the lower a company's payout ratios, the more resilient its dividend usually is.
Check out our latest analysis for Allianz
Click here to see the company's payout ratio, plus analyst estimates of its future dividends.
Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?
Businesses with strong growth prospects usually make the best dividend payers, because it's easier to grow dividends when earnings per share are improving. If business enters a downturn and the dividend is cut, the company could see its value fall precipitously. With that in mind, we're encouraged by the steady growth at Allianz, with earnings per share up 6.1% on average over the last five years.
The main way most investors will assess a company's dividend prospects is by checking the historical rate of dividend growth. In the last 10 years, Allianz has lifted its dividend by approximately 8.4% a year on average. It's encouraging to see the company lifting dividends while earnings are growing, suggesting at least some corporate interest in rewarding shareholders.