Imperial Brands (LON:IMB) Will Pay A Larger Dividend Than Last Year At UK£0.21

Imperial Brands PLC (LON:IMB) will increase its dividend on the 30th of September to UK£0.21, which is 1.0% higher than last year. This will take the annual payment from 9.0% to 9.0% of the stock price, which is above what most companies in the industry pay.

Check out our latest analysis for Imperial Brands

Imperial Brands' Payment Has Solid Earnings Coverage

While it is great to have a strong dividend yield, we should also consider whether the payment is sustainable. Based on the last payment, Imperial Brands was quite comfortably earning enough to cover the dividend. This indicates that quite a large proportion of earnings is being invested back into the business.

EPS is set to fall by 28.0% over the next 12 months. If the dividend continues along recent trends, we estimate the payout ratio could be 68%, which we consider to be quite comfortable, with most of the company's earnings left over to grow the business in the future.

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Dividend Volatility

While the company has been paying a dividend for a long time, it has cut the dividend at least once in the last 10 years. The first annual payment during the last 10 years was UK£0.84 in 2011, and the most recent fiscal year payment was UK£1.38. This means that it has been growing its distributions at 5.0% per annum over that time. A reasonable rate of dividend growth is good to see, but we're wary that the dividend history is not as solid as we'd like, having been cut at least once.

The Dividend Looks Likely To Grow

Growing earnings per share could be a mitigating factor when considering the past fluctuations in the dividend. Imperial Brands has seen EPS rising for the last five years, at 20% per annum. Since earnings per share is growing at an acceptable rate, and the payout policy is balanced, we think the company is positioning itself well to grow earnings and dividends in the future.

We Really Like Imperial Brands' Dividend

Overall, a dividend increase is always good, and we think that Imperial Brands is a strong income stock thanks to its track record and growing earnings. The distributions are easily covered by earnings, and there is plenty of cash being generated as well. We should point out that the earnings are expected to fall over the next 12 months, which won't be a problem if this doesn't become a trend, but could cause some turbulence in the next year. All in all, this checks a lot of the boxes we look for when choosing an income stock.

It's important to note that companies having a consistent dividend policy will generate greater investor confidence than those having an erratic one. However, there are other things to consider for investors when analysing stock performance. For example, we've identified 3 warning signs for Imperial Brands (1 makes us a bit uncomfortable!) that you should be aware of before investing. Looking for more high-yielding dividend ideas? Try our curated list of strong dividend payers.

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. 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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