Yahoo Finance Wincanton plc (LON:WIN) Looks Interesting, And It's About To Pay A Dividend
Wincanton plc (LON:WIN) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next 2 days. You can purchase shares before the 5th of December in order to receive the dividend, which the company will pay on the 10th of January.
Wincanton's next dividend payment will be UK£0.039 per share, on the back of last year when the company paid a total of UK£0.11 to shareholders. Calculating the last year's worth of payments shows that Wincanton has a trailing yield of 4.2% on the current share price of £2.58. 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! As a result, readers should always check whether Wincanton has been able to grow its dividends, or if the dividend might be cut.
See our latest analysis for Wincanton
Dividends are usually paid out of company profits, so if a company pays out more than it earned then its dividend is usually at greater risk of being cut. That's why it's good to see Wincanton paying out a modest 34% of its earnings. Yet cash flows are even more important than profits for assessing a dividend, so we need to see if the company generated enough cash to pay its distribution. It distributed 33% of its free cash flow as dividends, a comfortable payout level for most companies.
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. Investors love dividends, so if earnings fall and the dividend is reduced, expect a stock to be sold off heavily at the same time. With that in mind, we're encouraged by the steady growth at Wincanton, with earnings per share up 6.8% on average over the last five years. The company is retaining more than half of its earnings within the business, and it has been growing earnings at a decent rate. We think this is generally an attractive combination, as dividends can grow through a combination of earnings growth and or a higher payout ratio over time.
Many investors will assess a company's dividend performance by evaluating how much the dividend payments have changed over time. Wincanton's dividend payments per share have declined at 3.1% per year on average over the past ten years, which is uninspiring. Wincanton is a rare case where dividends have been decreasing at the same time as earnings per share have been improving. It's unusual to see, and could point to unstable conditions in the core business, or more rarely an intensified focus on reinvesting profits.
To Sum It Up
From a dividend perspective, should investors buy or avoid Wincanton? Earnings per share growth has been growing somewhat, and Wincanton is paying out less than half its earnings and cash flow as dividends. This is interesting for a few reasons, as it suggests management may be reinvesting heavily in the business, but it also provides room to increase the dividend in time. We would prefer to see earnings growing faster, but the best dividend stocks over the long term typically combine significant earnings per share growth with a low payout ratio, and Wincanton is halfway there. Wincanton looks solid on this analysis overall, and we'd definitely consider investigating it more closely.
Wondering what the future holds for Wincanton? See what the six analysts we track are forecasting, with this visualisation of its historical and future estimated earnings and cash flow
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.
