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It looks like Emerson Electric Co. (NYSE:EMR) is about to go ex-dividend in the next 3 days. Ex-dividend means that investors that purchase the stock on or after the 13th of February will not receive this dividend, which will be paid on the 10th of March.
Emerson Electric's next dividend payment will be US$0.50 per share. Last year, in total, the company distributed US$2.00 to shareholders. Last year's total dividend payments show that Emerson Electric has a trailing yield of 2.7% on the current share price of $73.77. Dividends are a major contributor to investment returns for long term holders, but only if the dividend continues to be paid. So we need to check whether the dividend payments are covered, and if earnings are growing.
Check out our latest analysis for Emerson Electric
Dividends are usually paid out of company profits, so if a company pays out more than it earned then its dividend is usually at greater risk of being cut. Emerson Electric is paying out an acceptable 56% of its profit, a common payout level among most companies. That said, even highly profitable companies sometimes might not generate enough cash to pay the dividend, which is why we should always check if the dividend is covered by cash flow. It distributed 47% of its free cash flow as dividends, a comfortable payout level for most companies.
It's positive to see that Emerson Electric'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?
Businesses with strong growth prospects usually make the best dividend payers, because it's easier to grow dividends when earnings per share are improving. Investors love dividends, so if earnings fall and the dividend is reduced, expect a stock to be sold off heavily at the same time. This is why it's a relief to see Emerson Electric earnings per share are up 2.4% per annum over the last five years. Earnings growth has been slim and the company is paying out more than half of its earnings. While there is some room to both increase the payout ratio and reinvest in the business, generally the higher a payout ratio goes, the lower a company's prospects for future growth.
Another key way to measure a company's dividend prospects is by measuring its historical rate of dividend growth. In the last ten years, Emerson Electric has lifted its dividend by approximately 4.2% a year on average. We're glad to see dividends rising alongside earnings over a number of years, which may be a sign the company intends to share the growth with shareholders.