The board of Myers Industries, Inc. (NYSE:MYE) has announced that it will pay a dividend of $0.135 per share on the 3rd of January. This means that the annual payment will be 3.2% of the current stock price, which is in line with the average for the industry.
See our latest analysis for Myers Industries
Solid dividend yields are great, but they only really help us if the payment is sustainable. Before making this announcement, Myers Industries was easily earning enough to cover the dividend. This means that most of its earnings are being retained to grow the business.
EPS is set to fall by 6.9% over the next 12 months. Assuming the dividend continues along recent trends, we believe the payout ratio could be 43%, which we are pretty comfortable with and we think is feasible on an earnings basis.
The company has an extended history of paying stable dividends. Since 2013, the dividend has gone from $0.36 total annually to $0.54. This implies that the company grew its distributions at a yearly rate of about 4.1% over that duration. Dividends have grown relatively slowly, which is not great, but some investors may value the relative consistency of the dividend.
Investors could be attracted to the stock based on the quality of its payment history. We are encouraged to see that Myers Industries has grown earnings per share at 15% per year over the past five years. A low payout ratio and decent growth suggests that the company is reinvesting well, and it also has plenty of room to increase the dividend over time.
Overall, we like to see the dividend staying consistent, and we think Myers Industries might even raise payments in the future. The distributions are easily covered by earnings, and there is plenty of cash being generated as well. If earnings do fall over the next 12 months, the dividend could be buffeted a little bit, but we don't think it should cause too much of a problem in the long term. Taking this all into consideration, this looks like it could be a good dividend opportunity.
It's important to note that companies having a consistent dividend policy will generate greater investor confidence than those having an erratic one. Meanwhile, despite the importance of dividend payments, they are not the only factors our readers should know when assessing a company. For example, we've picked out 1 warning sign for Myers Industries 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.