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Hill & Smith PLC (LON:HILS) has announced that it will be increasing its dividend from last year's comparable payment on the 4th of July to £0.325. Even though the dividend went up, the yield is still quite low at only 3.0%.
Hill & Smith's Projected Earnings Seem Likely To Cover Future Distributions
The dividend yield is a little bit low, but sustainability of the payments is also an important part of evaluating an income stock. Prior to this announcement, Hill & Smith's dividend was comfortably covered by both cash flow and earnings. This indicates that a lot of the earnings are being reinvested into the business, with the aim of fueling growth.
Over the next year, EPS is forecast to expand by 46.2%. Assuming the dividend continues along recent trends, we think the payout ratio could be 38% by next year, which is in a pretty sustainable range.
See our latest analysis for Hill & Smith
Dividend Volatility
The company has a long dividend track record, but it doesn't look great with cuts in the past. The annual payment during the last 10 years was £0.16 in 2015, and the most recent fiscal year payment was £0.49. This implies that the company grew its distributions at a yearly rate of about 12% over that duration. It is great to see strong growth in the dividend payments, but cuts are concerning as it may indicate the payout policy is too ambitious.
The Dividend Has Growth Potential
Given that the dividend has been cut in the past, we need to check if earnings are growing and if that might lead to stronger dividends in the future. Hill & Smith has impressed us by growing EPS at 9.3% per year over the past five years. Shareholders are getting plenty of the earnings returned to them, which combined with strong growth makes this quite appealing.
Hill & Smith Looks Like A Great Dividend Stock
In summary, it is always positive to see the dividend being increased, and we are particularly pleased with its overall sustainability. 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 in all, this checks a lot of the boxes we look for when choosing an income stock.
Companies possessing a stable dividend policy will likely enjoy greater investor interest than those suffering from a more inconsistent approach. Still, investors need to consider a host of other factors, apart from dividend payments, when analysing a company. For example, we've picked out 1 warning sign for Hill & Smith that investors should know about before committing capital to this stock. If you are a dividend investor, you might also want to look at our curated list of high yield dividend stocks.
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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.