The board of Signature Bank (NASDAQ:SBNY) has announced that it will pay a dividend of $0.56 per share on the 12th of August. This means the annual payment will be 1.3% of the current stock price, which is lower than the industry average.

While the dividend yield is important for income investors, it is also important to consider any large share price moves, as this will generally outweigh any gains from distributions. Signature Bank's stock price has reduced by 32% in the last 3 months, which is not ideal for investors and can explain a sharp increase in the dividend yield.

View our latest analysis for Signature Bank

Signature Bank's Dividend Forecasted To Be Well Covered By Earnings

The dividend yield is a little bit low, but sustainability of the payments is also an important part of evaluating an income stock.

Signature Bank is just starting to establish itself as being able to pay dividends to shareholders, given its short 4-year history of distributing earnings. While it has a shorter history of paying out dividends, Signature Bank's payout ratio of 12% is a great sign for current shareholders, as this means that earnings greatly cover dividends.

Over the next 3 years, EPS is forecast to expand by 41.3%. The future payout ratio could be 9.0% over that time period, according to analyst estimates, which is a good look for the future of the dividend.

Signature Bank Is Still Building Its Track Record

The dividend has been pretty stable looking back, but the company hasn't been paying one for very long. This makes it tough to judge how it would fare through a full economic cycle. There hasn't been much of a change in the dividend over the last 4 years. Signature Bank hasn't been paying a dividend for very long, so we wouldn't get to excited about its record of growth just yet.

The Dividend Looks Likely To Grow

Investors who have held shares in the company for the past few years will be happy with the dividend income they have received. It's encouraging to see that Signature Bank has been growing its earnings per share at 24% a year over the past five years. Earnings per share is growing at a solid clip, and the payout ratio is low which we think is an ideal combination in a dividend stock as the company can quite easily raise the dividend in the future.

We Really Like Signature Bank's Dividend

Overall, we think that this is a great income investment, and we think that maintaining the dividend this year may have been a conservative choice. Earnings are easily covering distributions, and the company is generating plenty of cash. Taking this all into consideration, this looks like it could be a good dividend opportunity.