Simpson Manufacturing Co., Inc.'s (NYSE:SSD) dividend will be increasing from last year's payment of the same period to $0.26 on 27th of October. This takes the annual payment to 1.0% of the current stock price, which unfortunately is below what the industry is paying.

Check out our latest analysis for Simpson Manufacturing

Simpson Manufacturing's Payment Has Solid Earnings Coverage

While yield is important, another factor to consider about a company's dividend is whether the current payout levels are feasible. However, prior to this announcement, Simpson Manufacturing's dividend was comfortably covered by both cash flow and earnings. This means that most of what the business earns is being used to help it grow.

EPS is set to fall by 4.3% over the next 12 months. If the dividend continues along recent trends, we estimate the payout ratio could be 15%, which we consider to be quite comfortable, with most of the company's earnings left over to grow the business in the future.

Simpson Manufacturing Has A Solid Track Record

The company has an extended history of paying stable dividends. Since 2012, the annual payment back then was $0.50, compared to the most recent full-year payment of $1.04. This means that it has been growing its distributions at 7.6% per annum over that time. The growth of the dividend has been pretty reliable, so we think this can offer investors some nice additional income in their portfolio.

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. We are encouraged to see that Simpson Manufacturing has grown earnings per share at 30% per year over the past five years. A low payout ratio gives the company a lot of flexibility, and growing earnings also make it very easy for it to grow the dividend.

Simpson Manufacturing Looks Like A Great Dividend Stock

Overall, we think this could be an attractive income stock, and it is only getting better by paying a higher dividend this year. The earnings easily cover the company's distributions, and the company is generating plenty of cash. We should point out that the earnings are expected to fall over the next 12 months, which won't be a problem if this doesn't become a trend, but could cause some turbulence in the next year. All of these factors considered, we think this has solid potential as a dividend stock.

Companies possessing a stable dividend policy will likely enjoy greater investor interest than those suffering from a more inconsistent approach. However, there are other things to consider for investors when analysing stock performance. To that end, Simpson Manufacturing has 2 warning signs (and 1 which can't be ignored) we think you should know about. Looking for more high-yielding dividend ideas? Try our collection of strong dividend payers.