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Gentex Corporation (NASDAQ:GNTX) will pay a dividend of $0.12 on the 18th of January. This means the annual payment will be 1.7% of the current stock price, which is lower than the industry average.
View our latest analysis for Gentex
Gentex's Payment Has Solid Earnings Coverage
It would be nice for the yield to be higher, but we should also check if higher levels of dividend payment would be sustainable. However, prior to this announcement, Gentex's dividend was comfortably covered by both cash flow and earnings. This means that most of its earnings are being retained to grow the business.
Looking forward, earnings per share is forecast to rise by 93.3% over the next year. If the dividend continues along recent trends, we estimate the payout ratio will be 20%, which is in the range that makes us comfortable with the sustainability of the dividend.
Gentex Has A Solid Track Record
Even over a long history of paying dividends, the company's distributions have been remarkably stable. The annual payment during the last 10 years was $0.26 in 2012, and the most recent fiscal year payment was $0.48. This works out to be a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 6.3% a year over that time. The dividend has been growing very nicely for a number of years, and has given its shareholders some nice income in their portfolios.
The Dividend's Growth Prospects Are Limited
Some investors will be chomping at the bit to buy some of the company's stock based on its dividend history. Gentex hasn't seen much change in its earnings per share over the last five years. While growth may be thin on the ground, Gentex could always pay out a higher proportion of earnings to increase shareholder returns.
Gentex Looks Like A Great Dividend Stock
Overall, we like to see the dividend staying consistent, and we think Gentex might even raise payments in the future. Earnings are easily covering distributions, and the company is generating plenty of cash. Taking this all into consideration, this looks like it could be a good dividend opportunity.
Investors generally tend to favour companies with a consistent, stable dividend policy as opposed to those operating an irregular one. At the same time, there are other factors our readers should be conscious of before pouring capital into a stock. Companies that are growing earnings tend to be the best dividend stocks over the long term. See what the 10 analysts we track are forecasting for Gentex for free with public analyst estimates for the company. Is Gentex not quite the opportunity you were looking for? Why not check out our selection of top dividend stocks.