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Regular readers will know that we love our dividends at Simply Wall St, which is why it's exciting to see Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next 4 days. Investors can purchase shares before the 10th of October in order to be eligible for this dividend, which will be paid on the 18th of October.
Bank OZK's next dividend payment will be US$0.3 per share, on the back of last year when the company paid a total of US$1.0 to shareholders. Based on the last year's worth of payments, Bank OZK has a trailing yield of 3.8% on the current stock price of $26.33. Dividends are an important source of income to many shareholders, but the health of the business is crucial to maintaining those dividends. As a result, readers should always check whether Bank OZK has been able to grow its dividends, or if the dividend might be cut.
View our latest analysis for Bank OZK
Dividends are typically paid out of company income, so if a company pays out more than it earned, its dividend is usually at a higher risk of being cut. That's why it's good to see Bank OZK paying out a modest 27% of its earnings.
Generally speaking, the lower a company's payout ratios, the more resilient its dividend usually is.
Click here to see the company's payout ratio, plus analyst estimates of its future dividends.
Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?
Companies with consistently growing earnings per share generally make the best dividend stocks, as they usually find it easier to grow dividends per share. Investors love dividends, so if earnings fall and the dividend is reduced, expect a stock to be sold off heavily at the same time. That's why it's comforting to see Bank OZK's earnings have been skyrocketing, up 20% 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. In the past ten years, Bank OZK has increased its dividend at approximately 23% a year on average. Both per-share earnings and dividends have both been growing rapidly in recent times, which is great to see.
To Sum It Up
From a dividend perspective, should investors buy or avoid Bank OZK? Companies like Bank OZK that are growing rapidly and paying out a low fraction of earnings, are usually reinvesting heavily in their business. This is one of the most attractive investment combinations under this analysis, as it can create substantial value for investors over the long run. In summary, Bank OZK appears to have some promise as a dividend stock, and we'd suggest taking a closer look at it.