Readers hoping to buy Tapestry, Inc. (NYSE:TPR) for its dividend will need to make their move shortly, as the stock is about to trade ex-dividend. You will need to purchase shares before the 5th of September to receive the dividend, which will be paid on the 30th of September.

Tapestry's next dividend payment will be US$0.34 per share, and in the last 12 months, the company paid a total of US$1.35 per share. Calculating the last year's worth of payments shows that Tapestry has a trailing yield of 6.5% on the current share price of $20.65. Dividends are an important source of income to many shareholders, but the health of the business is crucial to maintaining those dividends. We need to see whether the dividend is covered by earnings and if it's growing.

See our latest analysis for Tapestry

Dividends are typically paid out of company income, so if a company pays out more than it earned, its dividend is usually at a higher risk of being cut. Tapestry paid out 61% of its earnings to investors last year, a normal payout level for most businesses. Yet cash flow is typically more important than profit for assessing dividend sustainability, so we should always check if the company generated enough cash to afford its dividend. Over the last year, it paid out more than three-quarters (75%) of its free cash flow generated, which is fairly high and may be starting to limit reinvestment in the business.

It's positive to see that Tapestry's dividend is covered by both profits and cash flow, since this is generally a sign that the dividend is sustainable, and a lower payout ratio usually suggests a greater margin of safety before the dividend gets cut.

Click here to see the company's payout ratio, plus analyst estimates of its future dividends.

Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?

Companies with falling earnings are riskier for dividend shareholders. Investors love dividends, so if earnings fall and the dividend is reduced, expect a stock to be sold off heavily at the same time. That's why it's not ideal to see Tapestry's earnings per share have been shrinking at 4.6% a year over the previous five years.

The main way most investors will assess a company's dividend prospects is by checking the historical rate of dividend growth. Tapestry has delivered 16% dividend growth per year on average over the past 10 years. That's interesting, but the combination of a growing dividend despite declining earnings can typically only be achieved by paying out more of the company's profits. This can be valuable for shareholders, but it can't go on forever.