Three clues to a sustainable dividend at Banca Sistema Spa

2020 has been a challenging year for stock market investors, with market volatility wiping out recent gains. Fortunately, the dividends on offer from shares like Banca Sistema Spa (BIT:BST) offer a potentially better bet in the hunt for sustainable returns.

With so much uncertainty around the reliability of some dividends, it's understandable that investors are searching for the best payouts available. Part of the challenge is that shares on attractively high yields are often turning out to be 'dividend traps' - where the payouts are soon cut. So what should you be looking for in the search for sustainable dividend income?

Below is a checklist of measures, and a summary of why Banca Sistema Spa's dividend scores well against all of them...

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1. High (but not excessive) dividend yield

Yield is an important dividend metric because it tells you the percentage of how much a company pays out in dividends each year relative to its share price. That makes it easy to compare dividend payouts right across the market.

High yields are obviously appealing but be careful of excessively high yields (usually above 10%) because they can be a sign of problems. When the market suspects a company may be unable to sustain its dividend, the share price will fall and actually push the yield higher - and this can be a trap. So it pays to be wary of excessive yields.

• Banca Sistema Spa has a dividend yield of 5.55%.

2. Dividend growth

Another important marker for income investors is a track record of dividend growth - and evidence that the growth will continue. Consistent dividend growth can be a pointer to companies that are carefully managing their payout policies - and rewarding their shareholders over time. Rather than aggressively dishing out earnings, dividend growth companies tend to have more modest yields, but are better at sustaining their payouts.

• Banca Sistema Spa has increased its dividend payout 4 times over the past 10 years - and the dividend per share is forecast to grow by 19.4% in the coming year.

3. Dividend safety

Attractively high yields obviously turn heads - but it’s important to know that a dividend is affordable. Dividend Cover (similar to the payout ratio) is a go-to measure of a company's net income over the dividend paid to shareholders. It’s calculated as earnings per share divided by the dividend per share and helps to indicate how sustainable a dividend is.

Dividend cover of less than 1x suggests that the company can’t fund the payout from its current year earnings - and might be relying on other sources of funds to pay it.

• Banca Sistema Spa has dividend cover of 3.37.

What does this mean for potential investors?

Yield, Growth and Safety are the three main pillars that support some of the most popular dividend investing strategies. But it's important to know that dividend payouts can be cut or cancelled very quickly when the outlook changes.

To get a fuller understanding of the dividend prospects for any stock, it's important to do some investigation yourself. Indeed, we've identified areas of concern with Banca Sistema Spa that you can find out about here.

Alternatively, if you'd like to find more dividend shares that might be worth investigating, you can find ideas on this Dividend screen.