Advertisement
UK markets open in 3 hours 31 minutes
  • NIKKEI 225

    39,755.07
    +14.67 (+0.04%)
     
  • HANG SENG

    16,550.90
    -186.20 (-1.11%)
     
  • CRUDE OIL

    82.72
    0.00 (0.00%)
     
  • GOLD FUTURES

    2,164.90
    +0.60 (+0.03%)
     
  • DOW

    38,790.43
    +75.66 (+0.20%)
     
  • Bitcoin GBP

    51,547.80
    -1,894.95 (-3.55%)
     
  • CMC Crypto 200

    885.54
    0.00 (0.00%)
     
  • NASDAQ Composite

    16,103.45
    +130.25 (+0.82%)
     
  • UK FTSE All Share

    4,218.89
    -3.20 (-0.08%)
     

Why First Community (south Carolina) clears these three dividend hurdles

In the search for dividend income, there are three key tests that investors look for: yield, growth and safety. Finding stocks that offer all three is hard, but it looks like First Community (south Carolina) (NAQ:FCCO) is managing to do it.

At a time when economic uncertainty is causing many companies to slash their dividends, finding stocks that can sustain them is more important than ever. Income hunters thrive on high yield, but they also demand the reliability that only comes with dividends that are both safe and likely to grow over time.

With this in mind, here's a checklist of key dividend measures, together with the reasons why First Community (south Carolina) - which is a player in the Banking Services industry - scores well against them...

GET MORE DATA-DRIVEN INSIGHTS INTO NAQ:FCCO »

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.

ADVERTISEMENT

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.

  • First Community (south Carolina) has a dividend yield of 3.08%.

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.

  • First Community (south Carolina) has increased its dividend payout 7 times over the past 10 years - and the dividend per share is forecast to grow by 9.09% 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.

  • First Community (south Carolina) has dividend cover of 3.02.

Next steps

With these three important rules, you can track down shares that offer a reasonable yield, with a record of growth and safety. On this basis, First Community (south Carolina) could be worth a closer look.

To find out more you might want to take a look at the First Community (south Carolina) StockReport from the award-winning research platform, Stockopedia. StockReports contain a goldmine of information in a single page and can help to inform your investment decisions.

To find more stocks like First Community (south Carolina), you'll need to equip yourself with professional-grade data and screening tools. This kind of information has traditionally been closely guarded by professional fund managers. But our team of financial analysts have carefully constructed this screen - Stockopedia’s Dividend Stock Ideas - which gives you everything you need. So why not come and take a look?

Plus, if you’d like to discover more about dividend investing, you can read our free ebook: How to Make Money in Dividend Stocks.