Yahoo Finance Etteplan Oyj (HEL:ETTE) Looks Interesting, And It's About To Pay A Dividend
It looks like Etteplan Oyj (HEL:ETTE) is about to go ex-dividend in the next 4 days. You can purchase shares before the 3rd of April in order to receive the dividend, which the company will pay on the 15th of April.
Etteplan Oyj's next dividend payment will be €0.35 per share, and in the last 12 months, the company paid a total of €0.35 per share. Calculating the last year's worth of payments shows that Etteplan Oyj has a trailing yield of 5.3% on the current share price of €6.6. We love seeing companies pay a dividend, but it's also important to be sure that laying the golden eggs isn't going to kill our golden goose! We need to see whether the dividend is covered by earnings and if it's growing.
View our latest analysis for Etteplan Oyj
If a company pays out more in dividends than it earned, then the dividend might become unsustainable - hardly an ideal situation. That's why it's good to see Etteplan Oyj paying out a modest 50% of its earnings. That said, even highly profitable companies sometimes might not generate enough cash to pay the dividend, which is why we should always check if the dividend is covered by cash flow. Luckily it paid out just 24% of its free cash flow last year.
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?
Businesses with strong growth prospects usually make the best dividend payers, because it's easier to grow dividends when earnings per share are improving. If earnings decline and the company is forced to cut its dividend, investors could watch the value of their investment go up in smoke. For this reason, we're glad to see Etteplan Oyj's earnings per share have risen 18% per annum over the last five years. The company has managed to grow earnings at a rapid rate, while reinvesting most of the profits within the business. Fast-growing businesses that are reinvesting heavily are enticing from a dividend perspective, especially since they can often increase the payout ratio later.
The main way most investors will assess a company's dividend prospects is by checking the historical rate of dividend growth. In the past ten years, Etteplan Oyj has increased its dividend at approximately 24% 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.
Final Takeaway
Is Etteplan Oyj an attractive dividend stock, or better left on the shelf? Etteplan Oyj has grown its earnings per share while simultaneously reinvesting in the business. Unfortunately it's cut the dividend at least once in the past ten years, but the conservative payout ratio makes the current dividend look sustainable. Etteplan Oyj looks solid on this analysis overall, and we'd definitely consider investigating it more closely.
While it's tempting to invest in Etteplan Oyj for the dividends alone, you should always be mindful of the risks involved. For example, we've found 3 warning signs for Etteplan Oyj that we recommend you consider before investing in the business.
If you're in the market for dividend stocks, we recommend checking our list of top dividend stocks with a greater than 2% yield and an upcoming dividend.
If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned.
We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Thank you for reading.
