Oppenheimer Holdings Inc. (NYSE:OPY) stock is about to trade ex-dividend in two days. You can purchase shares before the 12th of August in order to receive the dividend, which the company will pay on the 27th of August.

Oppenheimer Holdings's next dividend payment will be US$0.12 per share, on the back of last year when the company paid a total of US$0.48 to shareholders. Last year's total dividend payments show that Oppenheimer Holdings has a trailing yield of 2.0% on the current share price of $23.8. 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.

View our latest analysis for Oppenheimer Holdings

If a company pays out more in dividends than it earned, then the dividend might become unsustainable - hardly an ideal situation. Oppenheimer Holdings is paying out just 11% of its profit after tax, which is comfortably low and leaves plenty of breathing room in the case of adverse events.

Generally speaking, the lower a company's payout ratios, the more resilient its dividend usually is.

Click here to see how much of its profit Oppenheimer Holdings paid out over the last 12 months.

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. If earnings fall far enough, the company could be forced to cut its dividend. That's why it's comforting to see Oppenheimer Holdings's earnings have been skyrocketing, up 68% per annum for the past five years.

The main way most investors will assess a company's dividend prospects is by checking the historical rate of dividend growth. Since the start of our data, 10 years ago, Oppenheimer Holdings has lifted its dividend by approximately 0.9% a year on average. It's good to see both earnings and the dividend have improved - although the former has been rising much quicker than the latter, possibly due to the company reinvesting more of its profits in growth.

The Bottom Line

Is Oppenheimer Holdings an attractive dividend stock, or better left on the shelf? Companies like Oppenheimer Holdings that are growing rapidly and paying out a low fraction of earnings, are usually reinvesting heavily in their business. Perhaps even more importantly - this can sometimes signal management is focused on the long term future of the business. In summary, Oppenheimer Holdings appears to have some promise as a dividend stock, and we'd suggest taking a closer look at it.