Regular readers will know that we love our dividends at Simply Wall St, which is why it's exciting to see CenterState Bank Corporation (NASDAQ:CSFL) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next 3 days. This means that investors who purchase shares on or after the 12th of September will not receive the dividend, which will be paid on the 30th of September.
CenterState Bank's next dividend payment will be US$0.11 per share, on the back of last year when the company paid a total of US$0.44 to shareholders. Based on the last year's worth of payments, CenterState Bank has a trailing yield of 1.9% on the current stock price of $22.59. Dividends are an important source of income to many shareholders, but the health of the business is crucial to maintaining those dividends. So we need to check whether the dividend payments are covered, and if earnings are growing.
Check out our latest analysis for CenterState Bank
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. CenterState Bank is paying out just 23% of its profit after tax, which is comfortably low and leaves plenty of breathing room in the case of adverse events.
Companies that pay out less in dividends than they earn in profits generally have more sustainable dividends. The lower the payout ratio, the more wiggle room the business has before it could be forced to cut the dividend.
Click here to see the company's payout ratio, plus analyst estimates of its future dividends.
Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?
Stocks in companies that generate sustainable earnings growth often make the best dividend prospects, as it is easier to lift the dividend when earnings are rising. If earnings fall far enough, the company could be forced to cut its dividend. It's encouraging to see CenterState Bank has grown its earnings rapidly, up 35% a year 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 last 10 years, CenterState Bank has lifted its dividend by approximately 11% 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 CenterState Bank? Typically, companies that are growing rapidly and paying out a low fraction of earnings are keeping the profits for reinvestment in the business. Perhaps even more importantly - this can sometimes signal management is focused on the long term future of the business. We think this is a pretty attractive combination, and would be interested in investigating CenterState Bank more closely.