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Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company (NYSE:HPE) will pay a dividend of $0.12 on the 13th of January. This means the annual payment is 2.9% of the current stock price, which is above the average for the industry.
View our latest analysis for Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Hewlett Packard Enterprise's Earnings Easily Cover The Distributions
Impressive dividend yields are good, but this doesn't matter much if the payments can't be sustained. Before this announcement, Hewlett Packard Enterprise was paying out 72% of earnings, but a comparatively small 42% of free cash flows. In general, cash flows are more important than earnings, so we are comfortable that the dividend will be sustainable going forward, especially with so much cash left over for reinvestment.
Over the next year, EPS is forecast to expand by 180.1%. Assuming the dividend continues along recent trends, we think the payout ratio could be 29% by next year, which is in a pretty sustainable range.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise Is Still Building Its Track Record
Even though the company has been paying a consistent dividend for a while, we would like to see a few more years before we feel comfortable relying on it. The dividend has gone from an annual total of $0.22 in 2015 to the most recent total annual payment of $0.48. This implies that the company grew its distributions at a yearly rate of about 12% over that duration. We're not overly excited about the relatively short history of dividend payments, however the dividend is growing at a nice rate and we might take a closer look.
The Dividend Looks Likely To Grow
The company's investors will be pleased to have been receiving dividend income for some time. We are encouraged to see that Hewlett Packard Enterprise has grown earnings per share at 21% per year over the past five years. Earnings per share is growing nicely, but the company is paying out most of its earnings as dividends. This might be sustainable, but we wonder why Hewlett Packard Enterprise is not retaining those earnings to reinvest in growth.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise Looks Like A Great Dividend Stock
Overall, we think that this is a great income investment, and we think that maintaining the dividend this year may have been a conservative choice. 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. All of these factors considered, we think this has solid potential as a dividend stock.
Investors generally tend to favour companies with a consistent, stable dividend policy as opposed to those operating an irregular one. However, there are other things to consider for investors when analysing stock performance. Taking the debate a bit further, we've identified 4 warning signs for Hewlett Packard Enterprise that investors need to be conscious of moving forward. Looking for more high-yielding dividend ideas? Try our collection of strong dividend payers.