Yahoo Finance British American Tobacco (LON:BATS) Has Announced That It Will Be Increasing Its Dividend To UK£0.54
The board of British American Tobacco p.l.c. (LON:BATS) has announced that it will be increasing its dividend on the 17th of August to UK£0.54. The announced payment will take the dividend yield to 6.0%, which is in line with the average for the industry.
View our latest analysis for British American Tobacco
British American Tobacco's Payment Has Solid Earnings Coverage
While it is always good to see a solid dividend yield, we should also consider whether the payment is feasible. The last payment made up 73% of earnings, but cash flows were much higher. This leaves plenty of cash for reinvestment into the business.
The next year is set to see EPS grow by 11.5%. Assuming the dividend continues along recent trends, we think the payout ratio could be 69% by next year, which is in a pretty sustainable range.
Dividend Volatility
The company's dividend history has been marked by instability, with at least 1 cut in the last 10 years. The first annual payment during the last 10 years was UK£1.27 in 2012, and the most recent fiscal year payment was UK£2.18. This means that it has been growing its distributions at 5.6% per annum over that time. We like to see dividends have grown at a reasonable rate, but with at least one substantial cut in the payments, we're not certain this dividend stock would be ideal for someone intending to live on the income.
British American Tobacco May Find It Hard To Grow The Dividend
With a relatively unstable dividend, it's even more important to see if earnings per share is growing. Earnings per share has been crawling upwards at 3.8% per year. British American Tobacco's earnings per share has barely grown, which is not ideal - perhaps this is why the company pays out the majority of its earnings to shareholders. That's fine as far as it goes, but we're less enthusiastic as this often signals that the dividend is likely to grow slower in the future.
Our Thoughts On British American Tobacco's Dividend
In summary, it's great to see that the company can raise the dividend and keep it in a sustainable range. The dividend has been at reasonable levels historically, but that hasn't translated into a consistent payment. The payment isn't stellar, but it could make a decent addition to a dividend portfolio.
Investors generally tend to favour companies with a consistent, stable dividend policy as opposed to those operating an irregular one. However, there are other things to consider for investors when analysing stock performance. For example, we've picked out 2 warning signs for British American Tobacco that investors should know about before committing capital to this stock. Is British American Tobacco not quite the opportunity you were looking for? Why not check out our selection of top 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.
