Flushing Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:FFIC) stock is about to trade ex-dividend in 4 days. The ex-dividend date occurs one day before the record date which is the day on which shareholders need to be on the company's books in order to receive a dividend. The ex-dividend date is important because any transaction on a stock needs to have been settled before the record date in order to be eligible for a dividend. Meaning, you will need to purchase Flushing Financial's shares before the 6th of December to receive the dividend, which will be paid on the 20th of December.

The company's next dividend payment will be US$0.22 per share, and in the last 12 months, the company paid a total of US$0.88 per share. Last year's total dividend payments show that Flushing Financial has a trailing yield of 5.0% on the current share price of US$17.74. Dividends are an important source of income to many shareholders, but the health of the business is crucial to maintaining those dividends. That's why we should always check whether the dividend payments appear sustainable, and if the company is growing.

View our latest analysis for Flushing Financial

If a company pays out more in dividends than it earned, then the dividend might become unsustainable - hardly an ideal situation. Last year Flushing Financial paid out 101% of its profits as dividends to shareholders, suggesting the dividend is not well covered by earnings.

When a company pays out a dividend that is not well covered by profits, the dividend is generally seen as more vulnerable to being 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. If earnings decline and the company is forced to cut its dividend, investors could watch the value of their investment go up in smoke. With that in mind, we're discomforted by Flushing Financial's 14% per annum decline in earnings in the past five years. Ultimately, when earnings per share decline, the size of the pie from which dividends can be paid, shrinks.

Another key way to measure a company's dividend prospects is by measuring its historical rate of dividend growth. Since the start of our data, 10 years ago, Flushing Financial has lifted its dividend by approximately 3.9% a year on average. That's intriguing, but the combination of growing dividends despite declining earnings can typically only be achieved by paying out a larger percentage of profits. Flushing Financial is already paying out a high percentage of its income, so without earnings growth, we're doubtful of whether this dividend will grow much in the future.