Atrion Corporation (NASDAQ:ATRI) Pays A US$1.75 Dividend In Just Four Days
Regular readers will know that we love our dividends at Simply Wall St, which is why it's exciting to see Atrion Corporation (NASDAQ:ATRI) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next 4 days. You can purchase shares before the 12th of March in order to receive the dividend, which the company will pay on the 31st of March.
Atrion's next dividend payment will be US$1.75 per share, on the back of last year when the company paid a total of US$7.00 to shareholders. Based on the last year's worth of payments, Atrion stock has a trailing yield of around 1.1% on the current share price of $632.9. Dividends are an important source of income to many shareholders, but the health of the business is crucial to maintaining those dividends. We need to see whether the dividend is covered by earnings and if it's growing.
Check out our latest analysis for Atrion
Dividends are typically paid from company earnings. If a company pays more in dividends than it earned in profit, then the dividend could be unsustainable. That's why it's good to see Atrion paying out a modest 38% of its earnings. A useful secondary check can be to evaluate whether Atrion generated enough free cash flow to afford its dividend. Over the last year it paid out 71% of its free cash flow as dividends, within the usual range for most companies.
It's encouraging to see that the dividend is covered by both profit and cash flow. This generally suggests the dividend is sustainable, as long as earnings don't drop precipitously.
Click here to see how much of its profit Atrion paid out over the last 12 months.
Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?
Companies with consistently growing earnings per share generally make the best dividend stocks, as they usually find it easier to grow dividends per share. If business enters a downturn and the dividend is cut, the company could see its value fall precipitously. This is why it's a relief to see Atrion earnings per share are up 2.2% per annum over the last five years. Earnings growth has been slim and the company is paying out more than half of its earnings. While there is some room to both increase the payout ratio and reinvest in the business, generally the higher a payout ratio goes, the lower a company's prospects for future growth.
The main way most investors will assess a company's dividend prospects is by checking the historical rate of dividend growth. Since the start of our data, 10 years ago, Atrion has lifted its dividend by approximately 17% a year on average. It's encouraging to see the company lifting dividends while earnings are growing, suggesting at least some corporate interest in rewarding shareholders.
To Sum It Up
Should investors buy Atrion for the upcoming dividend? Earnings per share growth has been modest, and it's interesting that Atrion is paying out less than half of its earnings and more than half its cash flow to shareholders in the form of dividends. Overall, it's not a bad combination, but we feel that there are likely more attractive dividend prospects out there.
Curious about whether Atrion has been able to consistently generate growth? Here's a chart of its historical revenue and earnings growth.
If you're in the market for dividend stocks, we recommend checking our list of top dividend stocks with a greater than 2% yield and an upcoming dividend.
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. 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.
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