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Julius Bär Gruppe AG (VTX:BAER) will pay a dividend of CHF2.60 on the 17th of April. Based on this payment, the dividend yield on the company's stock will be 5.4%, which is an attractive boost to shareholder returns.
View our latest analysis for Julius Bär Gruppe
Julius Bär Gruppe's Dividend Forecasted To Be Well Covered By Earnings
We like to see robust dividend yields, but that doesn't matter if the payment isn't sustainable.
Having distributed dividends for at least 10 years, Julius Bär Gruppe has a long history of paying out a part of its earnings to shareholders. But while this history shows that the company was able to sustain its dividend for a decent period of time, its most recent earnings report shows that the company did not make enough earnings to cover its dividend payout. This is an alarming sign that could mean that Julius Bär Gruppe's dividend at its current rate may no longer be sustainable for longer.
The next 3 years are set to see EPS grow by 176.7%. For the same time horizon, analysts estimate that the future payout ratio could be 51% which would be quite comfortable going to take the dividend forward.
Julius Bär Gruppe Has A Solid Track Record
The company has been paying a dividend for a long time, and it has been quite stable which gives us confidence in the future dividend potential. Since 2014, the dividend has gone from CHF0.60 total annually to CHF2.60. This means that it has been growing its distributions at 16% per annum over that time. So, dividends have been growing pretty quickly, and even more impressively, they haven't experienced any notable falls during this period.
Dividend Growth Is Doubtful
Some investors will be chomping at the bit to buy some of the company's stock based on its dividend history. However, initial appearances might be deceiving. It's not great to see that Julius Bär Gruppe's earnings per share has fallen at approximately 8.1% per year over the past five years. If earnings continue declining, the company may have to make the difficult choice of reducing the dividend or even stopping it completely - the opposite of dividend growth. However, the next year is actually looking up, with earnings set to rise. We would just wait until it becomes a pattern before getting too excited.
Our Thoughts On Julius Bär Gruppe's Dividend
In summary, while it's good to see that the dividend hasn't been cut, we are a bit cautious about Julius Bär Gruppe's payments, as there could be some issues with sustaining them into the future. We can't deny that the payments have been very stable, but we are a little bit worried about the very high payout ratio. We would probably look elsewhere for an income investment.