Some investors rely on dividends for growing their wealth, and if you're one of those dividend sleuths, you might be intrigued to know that Knoll, Inc. (NYSE:KNL) is about to go ex-dividend in just 4 days. This means that investors who purchase shares on or after the 13th of September will not receive the dividend, which will be paid on the 30th of September.
Knoll's next dividend payment will be US$0.17 per share, on the back of last year when the company paid a total of US$0.68 to shareholders. Last year's total dividend payments show that Knoll has a trailing yield of 2.9% on the current share price of $23.35. 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 Knoll
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. That's why it's good to see Knoll paying out a modest 36% of its earnings. Yet cash flow is typically more important than profit for assessing dividend sustainability, so we should always check if the company generated enough cash to afford its dividend. It distributed 36% of its free cash flow as dividends, a comfortable payout level for most companies.
It's encouraging to see that the dividend is covered by both profit and cash flow. This generally suggests the dividend is sustainable, as long as earnings don't drop precipitously.
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. If business enters a downturn and the dividend is cut, the company could see its value fall precipitously. That's why it's comforting to see Knoll's earnings have been skyrocketing, up 29% per annum for the past five years. Knoll is paying out less than half its earnings and cash flow, while simultaneously growing earnings per share at a rapid clip. Companies with growing earnings and low payout ratios are often the best long-term dividend stocks, as the company can both grow its earnings and increase the percentage of earnings that it pays out, essentially multiplying the dividend.
Another key way to measure a company's dividend prospects is by measuring its historical rate of dividend growth. Knoll has delivered 3.5% dividend growth per year on average over the past 10 years. Earnings per share have been growing much quicker than dividends, potentially because Knoll is keeping back more of its profits to grow the business.