Nippon Ceramic Co., Ltd. (TSE:6929) has announced that it will pay a dividend of ¥100.00 per share on the 8th of March. The dividend yield will be 3.8% based on this payment which is still above the industry average.
View our latest analysis for Nippon Ceramic
We like to see robust dividend yields, but that doesn't matter if the payment isn't sustainable. Based on the last payment, Nippon Ceramic was quite comfortably earning enough to cover the dividend. This means that a large portion of its earnings are being retained to grow the business.
The next year is set to see EPS grow by 6.1%. If the dividend continues along recent trends, we estimate the payout ratio will be 64%, which is in the range that makes us comfortable with the sustainability of the dividend.
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 annual payment during the last 10 years was ¥20.00 in 2014, and the most recent fiscal year payment was ¥100.00. This works out to be a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 17% a year over that time. Dividends have grown rapidly over this time, but with cuts in the past we are not certain that this stock will be a reliable source of income in the future.
With a relatively unstable dividend, it's even more important to see if earnings per share is growing. It's encouraging to see that Nippon Ceramic has been growing its earnings per share at 9.7% a year over the past five years. Earnings are on the uptrend, and it is only paying a small portion of those earnings to shareholders.
Overall, we like to see the dividend staying consistent, and we think Nippon Ceramic might even raise payments in the future. Earnings are easily covering distributions, and the company is generating plenty of cash. All in all, this checks a lot of the boxes we look for when choosing an income stock.
Market movements attest to how highly valued a consistent dividend policy is compared to one which is more unpredictable. Meanwhile, despite the importance of dividend payments, they are not the only factors our readers should know when assessing a company. As an example, we've identified 1 warning sign for Nippon Ceramic that you should be aware of before investing. 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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