How Does First Community Bancshares Inc (NASDAQ:FCBC) Fare As A Dividend Stock?
A large part of investment returns can be generated by dividend-paying stock given their role in compounding returns over time. Historically, First Community Bancshares Inc (NASDAQ:FCBC) has paid dividends to shareholders, and these days it yields 2.5%. Does First Community Bancshares tick all the boxes of a great dividend stock? Below, I’ll take you through my analysis.
See our latest analysis for First Community Bancshares
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:
Does it pay an annual yield higher than 75% of dividend payers?
Has it consistently paid a stable dividend without missing a payment or drastically cutting payout?
Has dividend per share risen in the past couple of years?
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?
How well does First Community Bancshares fit our criteria?
The current trailing twelve-month payout ratio for the stock is 47.3%, meaning the dividend is sufficiently 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.
If you want to dive deeper into the sustainability of a certain payout ratio, you may wish to consider the cash flow of the business. A company with strong cash flow, relative to earnings, can sometimes sustain a high pay out ratio.
If there is one thing that you want to be reliable in your life, it’s dividend stocks and their constant income stream. Not only have dividend payouts from First Community Bancshares fallen over the past 10 years, it has also been highly volatile during this time, with drops of over 25% in some years. This means that dividend hunters should probably steer clear of the stock, at least for now until the track record improves.
Compared to its peers, First Community Bancshares generates a yield of 2.5%, which is on the low-side for Banks stocks.
Next Steps:
After digging a little deeper into First Community Bancshares’s yield, it’s easy to see why you should be cautious investing in the company just for the dividend. On the other hand, if you are not strictly just a dividend investor, the stock could still be offering some interesting investment opportunities. Given that this is purely a dividend analysis, I recommend taking sufficient time to understand its core business and determine whether the company and its investment properties suit your overall goals. I’ve put together three fundamental aspects you should further examine:
Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for FCBC’s future growth? Take a look at our free research report of analyst consensus for FCBC’s outlook.
Valuation: What is FCBC 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 FCBC is currently mispriced by the market.
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.
