Whirlpool of India Limited (NSE:WHIRLPOOL) stock is about to trade ex-dividend in 3 days time. You will need to purchase shares before the 5th of August to receive the dividend, which will be paid on the 12th of August.

Whirlpool of India's upcoming dividend is ₹5.00 a share, following on from the last 12 months, when the company distributed a total of ₹5.00 per share to shareholders. Based on the last year's worth of payments, Whirlpool of India has a trailing yield of 0.3% on the current stock price of ₹1554.45. 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.

See our latest analysis for Whirlpool of India

Dividends are typically paid from company earnings. If a company pays more in dividends than it earned in profit, then the dividend could be unsustainable. Whirlpool of India has a low and conservative payout ratio of just 15% of its income after tax. A useful secondary check can be to evaluate whether Whirlpool of India generated enough free cash flow to afford its dividend. The good news is it paid out just 23% of its free cash flow in the last year.

It's positive to see that Whirlpool of India's dividend is covered by both profits and cash flow, since this is generally a sign that the dividend is sustainable, and a lower payout ratio usually suggests a greater margin of safety before the dividend gets cut.

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

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. 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 Whirlpool of India's earnings have been skyrocketing, up 27% per annum for the past five years. Whirlpool of India looks like a real growth company, with earnings per share growing at a cracking pace and the company reinvesting most of its profits in the business.

The main way most investors will assess a company's dividend prospects is by checking the historical rate of dividend growth. In the past 2 years, Whirlpool of India has increased its dividend at approximately 29% a year on average. It's great to see earnings per share growing rapidly over several years, and dividends per share growing right along with it.