Amcor Limited (ASX:AMC): 4 Days To Buy Before The Ex-Dividend Date
Shares of Amcor Limited (ASX:AMC) will begin trading ex-dividend in 4 days. To qualify for the dividend check of US$0.17 per share, investors must have owned the shares prior to 26 April 2019, which is the last day the company's management will finalize their list of shareholders to which they will send dividend payments. Investors looking for higher income-generating stocks to add to their portfolio should keep reading, as I take a deeper dive into Amcor's latest financial data to analyse its dividend attributes.
View our latest analysis for Amcor
5 questions I ask before picking a dividend stock
If you are a dividend investor, you should always assess these five key metrics:
Is its annual yield among the top 25% of dividend-paying companies?
Has it consistently paid a stable dividend without missing a payment or drastically cutting payout?
Has dividend per share amount increased over the past?
Can it afford to pay the current rate of dividends from its earnings?
Will it have the ability to keep paying its dividends going forward?
How does Amcor fare?
The current trailing twelve-month payout ratio for the stock is 80%, which means that the dividend is covered by earnings. In the near future, analysts are predicting a payout ratio of 72% which, assuming the share price stays the same, leads to a dividend yield of 4.6%. In addition to this, EPS should increase to $0.62.
When assessing the forecast sustainability of a dividend it is also worth considering the cash flow of the business. Companies with strong cash flow can sustain a higher payout ratio, while companies with weaker cash flow generally cannot.
If there's one type of stock you want to be reliable, it's dividend stocks and their stable income-generating ability. Although AMC's per share payments have increased in the past 10 years, it has not been a completely smooth ride. Shareholders would have seen a few years of reduced payments in this time.
Compared to its peers, Amcor has a yield of 5.2%, which is high for Packaging stocks but still below the market's top dividend payers.
Next Steps:
Considering the dividend attributes we analyzed above, Amcor is definitely worth keeping an eye on for someone looking to build a dedicated income portfolio. Given that this is purely a dividend analysis, you should always research extensively before deciding whether or not a stock is an appropriate investment for you. I always recommend analysing the company's fundamentals and underlying business before making an investment decision. There are three relevant factors you should further research:
Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for AMC’s future growth? Take a look at our free research report of analyst consensus for AMC’s outlook.
Valuation: What is AMC worth today? Even if the stock is a cash cow, it's not worth an infinite price. The intrinsic value infographic in our free research report helps visualize whether AMC is currently mispriced by the market.
Other Dividend Rockstars: Are there better dividend payers with stronger fundamentals out there? Check out our free list of these great stocks here.
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.
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. Thank you for reading.
