The board of Satori Electric Co., Ltd. (TSE:7420) has announced that it will pay a dividend of ¥40.00 per share on the 14th of February. This takes the dividend yield to 4.4%, which shareholders will be pleased with.
Check out our latest analysis for Satori Electric
While it is great to have a strong dividend yield, we should also consider whether the payment is sustainable. Prior to this announcement, Satori Electric's dividend was comfortably covered by both cash flow and earnings. This indicates that quite a large proportion of earnings is being invested back into the business.
Looking forward, earnings per share could rise by 116.6% over the next year if the trend from the last few years continues. If the dividend continues on this path, the payout ratio could be 31% by next year, which we think can be pretty sustainable going forward.
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. Since 2014, the dividend has gone from ¥20.00 total annually to ¥86.00. This means that it has been growing its distributions at 16% per annum over that time. It is great to see strong growth in the dividend payments, but cuts are concerning as it may indicate the payout policy is too ambitious.
Given that the dividend has been cut in the past, we need to check if earnings are growing and if that might lead to stronger dividends in the future. We are encouraged to see that Satori Electric has grown earnings per share at 117% per year over the past five years. The company doesn't have any problems growing, despite returning a lot of capital to shareholders, which is a very nice combination for a dividend stock to have.
Overall, we think this could be an attractive income stock, and it is only getting better by paying a higher dividend this year. Earnings are easily covering distributions, and the company is generating plenty of cash. All of these factors considered, we think this has solid potential as a dividend stock.
Companies possessing a stable dividend policy will likely enjoy greater investor interest than those suffering from a more inconsistent approach. At the same time, there are other factors our readers should be conscious of before pouring capital into a stock. For example, we've picked out 1 warning sign for Satori Electric 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.