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Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) stock is about to trade ex-dividend in four days. Typically, the ex-dividend date is one business day before the record date which is the date on which a company determines the shareholders eligible 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. Thus, you can purchase Freeport-McMoRan's shares before the 14th of July in order to receive the dividend, which the company will pay on the 1st of August.
The company's next dividend payment will be US$0.15 per share, on the back of last year when the company paid a total of US$0.60 to shareholders. Based on the last year's worth of payments, Freeport-McMoRan has a trailing yield of 2.1% on the current stock price of $28. If you buy this business for its dividend, you should have an idea of whether Freeport-McMoRan's dividend is reliable and sustainable. So we need to investigate whether Freeport-McMoRan can afford its dividend, and if the dividend could grow.
Check out our latest analysis for Freeport-McMoRan
Dividends are usually paid out of company profits, so if a company pays out more than it earned then its dividend is usually at greater risk of being cut. Freeport-McMoRan paid out just 13% of its profit last year, which we think is conservatively low and leaves plenty of margin for unexpected circumstances. A useful secondary check can be to evaluate whether Freeport-McMoRan generated enough free cash flow to afford its dividend. Luckily it paid out just 9.4% of its free cash flow last year.
It's encouraging to see that the dividend is covered by both profit and cash flow. This generally suggests the dividend is sustainable, as long as earnings don't drop precipitously.
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 earnings decline and the company is forced to cut its dividend, investors could watch the value of their investment go up in smoke. For this reason, we're glad to see Freeport-McMoRan's earnings per share have risen 17% per annum over the last five years. Earnings per share are growing rapidly and the company is keeping more than half of its earnings within the business; an attractive combination which could suggest the company is focused on reinvesting to grow earnings further. Fast-growing businesses that are reinvesting heavily are enticing from a dividend perspective, especially since they can often increase the payout ratio later.