Yahoo Finance Imperial Brands' (LON:IMB) Shareholders Will Receive A Bigger Dividend Than Last Year
Imperial Brands PLC (LON:IMB) will increase its dividend from last year's comparable payment on the 30th of December to £0.4931. This makes the dividend yield 6.7%, which is above the industry average.
View our latest analysis for Imperial Brands
Imperial Brands' Dividend Is Well Covered By Earnings
We like to see robust dividend yields, but that doesn't matter if the payment isn't sustainable. Prior to this announcement, Imperial Brands' dividend made up quite a large proportion of earnings but only 44% of free cash flows. This leaves plenty of cash for reinvestment into the business.
Over the next year, EPS is forecast to expand by 50.9%. Under the assumption that the dividend will continue along recent trends, we think the payout ratio could be 54% which would be quite comfortable going to take the dividend forward.
Dividend Volatility
The company's dividend history has been marked by instability, with at least one cut in the last 10 years. Since 2012, the annual payment back then was £0.951, compared to the most recent full-year payment of £1.41. This implies that the company grew its distributions at a yearly rate of about 4.0% over that duration. We're glad to see the dividend has risen, but with a limited rate of growth and fluctuations in the payments the total shareholder return may be limited.
The Dividend's Growth Prospects Are Limited
With a relatively unstable dividend, it's even more important to see if earnings per share is growing. Earnings has been rising at 2.7% per annum over the last five years, which admittedly is a bit slow. Slow growth and a high payout ratio could mean that Imperial Brands has maxed out the amount that it has been able to pay to shareholders. This isn't the end of the world, but for investors looking for strong dividend growth they may want to look elsewhere.
Our Thoughts On Imperial Brands' Dividend
Overall, we always like to see the dividend being raised, but we don't think Imperial Brands will make a great income stock. The payments haven't been particularly stable and we don't see huge growth potential, but with the dividend well covered by cash flows it could prove to be reliable over the short term. We would probably look elsewhere for an income investment.
Investors generally tend to favour companies with a consistent, stable dividend policy as opposed to those operating an irregular one. Meanwhile, despite the importance of dividend payments, they are not the only factors our readers should know when assessing a company. For example, we've picked out 3 warning signs for Imperial Brands 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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