How Does Erie Indemnity Company (NASDAQ:ERIE) Fare As A Dividend Stock?
Dividends play an important role in compounding returns in the long run and end up forming a sizeable part of investment returns. Historically, Erie Indemnity Company (NASDAQ:ERIE) has been paying a dividend to shareholders. Today it yields 2.6%. Let’s dig deeper into whether Erie Indemnity should have a place in your portfolio.
View our latest analysis for Erie Indemnity
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Here’s how I find good dividend stocks
When assessing a stock as a potential addition to my dividend Portfolio, I look at these five areas:
Is it paying an annual yield above 75% of dividend payers?
Does it consistently pay out dividends without missing a payment of significantly cutting payout?
Has it increased its dividend per share amount over the past?
Can it afford to pay the current rate of dividends from its earnings?
Will it be able to continue to payout at the current rate in the future?
Does Erie Indemnity pass our checks?
The company currently pays out 68% of its earnings as a dividend, according to its trailing twelve-month data, which means that the dividend is covered by earnings. Furthermore, analysts have not forecasted a dividends per share for the future, which makes it hard to determine the yield shareholders should expect, and whether the current payout is sustainable, moving forward.
When considering the sustainability of dividends, it is also worth checking the cash flow of a company. Cash flow is important because companies with strong cash flow can usually sustain higher payout ratios.
If there is one thing that you want to be reliable in your life, it’s dividend stocks and their constant income stream. In the case of ERIE it has increased its DPS from $1.8 to $3.6 in the past 10 years. During this period it has not missed a payment, as one would expect for a company increasing its dividend. These are all positive signs of a great, reliable dividend stock.
Compared to its peers, Erie Indemnity has a yield of 2.6%, which is high for Insurance stocks but still below the market’s top dividend payers.
Next Steps:
Keeping in mind the dividend characteristics above, Erie Indemnity is definitely worth considering for investors 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. Below, I’ve compiled three key factors you should look at:
Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for ERIE’s future growth? Take a look at our free research report of analyst consensus for ERIE’s outlook.
Valuation: What is ERIE 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 ERIE 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.
To help readers see past the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements.
The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned. For errors that warrant correction please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com.
