Readers hoping to buy Power Corporation of Canada (TSE:POW) for its dividend will need to make their move shortly, as the stock is about to trade ex-dividend. This means that investors who purchase shares on or after the 6th of September will not receive the dividend, which will be paid on the 30th of September.

Power of Canada's next dividend payment will be CA$0.41 per share, and in the last 12 months, the company paid a total of CA$1.62 per share. Calculating the last year's worth of payments shows that Power of Canada has a trailing yield of 5.8% on the current share price of CA$28.07. 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.

View our latest analysis for Power of Canada

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. Power of Canada is paying out an acceptable 72% of its profit, a common payout level among most companies.

When a company paid out less in dividends than it earned in profit, this generally suggests its dividend is affordable. The lower the % of its profit that it pays out, the greater the margin of safety for the dividend if the business enters a downturn.

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

Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?

Stocks with flat earnings can still be attractive dividend payers, but it is important to be more conservative with your approach and demand a greater margin for safety when it comes to dividend sustainability. If earnings fall far enough, the company could be forced to cut its dividend. It's not encouraging to see that Power of Canada's earnings are effectively flat over the past five years. It's better than seeing them drop, certainly, but over the long term, all of the best dividend stocks are able to meaningfully grow their earnings per share.

The main way most investors will assess a company's dividend prospects is by checking the historical rate of dividend growth. In the past 10 years, Power of Canada has increased its dividend at approximately 3.4% a year on average.

Final Takeaway

Is Power of Canada an attractive dividend stock, or better left on the shelf? Power of Canada's earnings are effectively flat over recent years, even as the company pays out more than half of its earnings to shareholders as dividends. It doesn't appear an outstanding opportunity, but could be worth a closer look.