Attention dividend hunters! Marsden Maritime Holdings Limited (NZSE:MMH) will be distributing its dividend of NZ$0.11 per share on the 14 September 2018, and will start trading ex-dividend in 2 days time on the 06 September 2018. Is this future income a persuasive enough catalyst for investors to think about Marsden Maritime Holdings as an investment today? Below, I’m going to look at the latest data and analyze the stock and its dividend property in further detail.

Check out our latest analysis for Marsden Maritime Holdings

5 checks you should use to assess a dividend stock

When assessing a stock as a potential addition to my dividend Portfolio, I look at these five areas:

• Is it paying an annual yield above 75% of dividend payers?

• Does it consistently pay out dividends without missing a payment of significantly cutting payout?

• Has the amount of dividend per share grown over the past?

• Does earnings amply cover its dividend payments?

• Will the company be able to keep paying dividend based on the future earnings growth?

Does Marsden Maritime Holdings pass our checks?

Marsden Maritime Holdings has a trailing twelve-month payout ratio of 69.2%, meaning the dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Furthermore, analysts have not forecasted a dividends per share for the future, which makes it hard to determine the yield shareholders should expect, and whether the current payout is sustainable, moving forward.

If dividend is a key criteria in your investment consideration, then you need to make sure the dividend stock you’re eyeing out is reliable in its payments. Although MMH’s per share payments have increased in the past 10 years, it has not been a completely smooth ride. Investors have seen reductions in the dividend per share in the past, although, it has picked up again.

Relative to peers, Marsden Maritime Holdings has a yield of 3.0%, which is on the low-side for Infrastructure stocks.

Next Steps:

Now you know to keep in mind the reason why investors should be careful investing in Marsden Maritime Holdings for the dividend. But if you are not exclusively a dividend investor, the stock could still be an interesting investment opportunity. Given that this is purely a dividend analysis, you should always research extensively before deciding whether or not a stock is an appropriate investment for you. I always recommend analysing the company’s fundamentals and underlying business before making an investment decision. I’ve put together three important aspects you should look at:

1. Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for MMH’s future growth? Take a look at our free research report of analyst consensus for MMH’s outlook.

2. Valuation: What is MMH worth today? Even if the stock is a cash cow, it’s not worth an infinite price. The intrinsic value infographic in our free research report helps visualize whether MMH is currently mispriced by the market.

3. Dividend Rockstars: Are there better dividend payers with stronger fundamentals out there? Check out our free list of these great stocks here.

To help readers see past the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements.

The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned. For errors that warrant correction please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com.