The board of The Yamagata Bank, Ltd. (TSE:8344) has announced that it will pay a dividend on the 5th of June, with investors receiving ¥28.00 per share. This makes the dividend yield about the same as the industry average at 3.1%.
We aren't too impressed by dividend yields unless they can be sustained over time.
Having distributed dividends for at least 10 years, Yamagata Bank has a long history of paying out a part of its earnings to shareholders. Based on Yamagata Bank's last earnings report, the payout ratio is at a decent 35%, meaning that the company is able to pay out its dividend with a bit of room to spare.
If the trend of the last few years continues, EPS will grow by 30.4% over the next 12 months. If the dividend continues on this path, the future payout ratio could be 27% by next year, which we think can be pretty sustainable going forward.
See our latest analysis for Yamagata Bank
Although the company has a long dividend history, it has been cut at least once in the last 10 years. The annual payment during the last 10 years was ¥30.00 in 2015, and the most recent fiscal year payment was ¥56.00. This means that it has been growing its distributions at 6.4% per annum over that time. A reasonable rate of dividend growth is good to see, but we're wary that the dividend history is not as solid as we'd like, having been cut at least once.
Growing earnings per share could be a mitigating factor when considering the past fluctuations in the dividend. Yamagata Bank has seen EPS rising for the last five years, at 30% per annum. A low payout ratio gives the company a lot of flexibility, and growing earnings also make it very easy for it to grow the dividend.
In summary, it is always positive to see the dividend being increased, and we are particularly pleased with its overall sustainability. The company is easily earning enough to cover its dividend payments and it is great to see that these earnings are being translated into cash flow. All in all, this checks a lot of the boxes we look for when choosing an income stock.
Investors generally tend to favour companies with a consistent, stable dividend policy as opposed to those operating an irregular one. At the same time, there are other factors our readers should be conscious of before pouring capital into a stock. For instance, we've picked out 1 warning sign for Yamagata Bank that investors should take into consideration. Is Yamagata Bank not quite the opportunity you were looking for? Why not check out our selection of top dividend stocks.
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