Yahoo Finance Admiral Group's (LON:ADM) Dividend Will Be Reduced To £1.05
Admiral Group plc (LON:ADM) is reducing its dividend from last year's comparable payment to £1.05 on the 30th of September. The dividend yield of 5.8% is still a nice boost to shareholder returns, despite the cut.
View our latest analysis for Admiral Group
Admiral Group Doesn't Earn Enough To Cover Its Payments
A big dividend yield for a few years doesn't mean much if it can't be sustained. The last dividend was quite easily covered by Admiral Group's earnings. This indicates that a lot of the earnings are being reinvested into the business, with the aim of fueling growth.
Earnings per share is forecast to rise by 5.6% over the next year. Assuming the dividend continues along recent trends, we think the payout ratio could reach 181%, which probably can't continue without putting some pressure on the balance sheet.
Dividend Volatility
The company's dividend history has been marked by instability, with at least one cut in the last 10 years. The annual payment during the last 10 years was £0.782 in 2012, and the most recent fiscal year payment was £1.32. This implies that the company grew its distributions at a yearly rate of about 5.4% over that duration. We have seen cuts in the past, so while the growth looks promising we would be a little bit cautious about its track record.
The Dividend Looks Likely To Grow
With a relatively unstable dividend, it's even more important to evaluate if earnings per share is growing, which could point to a growing dividend in the future. It's encouraging to see that Admiral Group has been growing its earnings per share at 11% a year over the past five years. Earnings are on the uptrend, and it is only paying a small portion of those earnings to shareholders.
We Really Like Admiral Group's Dividend
It is generally not great to see the dividend being cut, but we don't think this should happen much if at all in the future given that Admiral Group has the makings of a solid income stock moving forward. The cut will allow the company to continue paying out the dividend without putting the balance sheet under pressure, which means that it could remain sustainable for longer. Taking this all into consideration, this looks like it could be a good dividend opportunity.
Market movements attest to how highly valued a consistent dividend policy is compared to one which is more unpredictable. However, there are other things to consider for investors when analysing stock performance. For example, we've picked out 2 warning signs for Admiral Group that investors should know about before committing capital to this stock. If you are a dividend investor, you might also want to look at our curated list of high yield dividend stocks.
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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
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