Great Southern Bancorp's (NASDAQ:GSBC) Dividend Will Be $0.40
Great Southern Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:GSBC) has announced that it will pay a dividend of $0.40 per share on the 16th of April. This means the dividend yield will be fairly typical at 3.0%.
See our latest analysis for Great Southern Bancorp
Great Southern Bancorp's Earnings Will Easily Cover The Distributions
While it is always good to see a solid dividend yield, we should also consider whether the payment is feasible.
Great Southern Bancorp has a long history of paying out dividends, with its current track record at a minimum of 10 years. Taking data from its last earnings report, calculating for the company's payout ratio shows 28%, which means that Great Southern Bancorp would be able to pay its last dividend without pressure on the balance sheet.
Looking forward, earnings per share is forecast to fall by 16.2% over the next 3 years. Fortunately, analysts forecast the future payout ratio to be 33% over the same time horizon, which is in the range that makes us comfortable with the sustainability of the dividend.
Great Southern Bancorp Has A Solid Track Record
Even over a long history of paying dividends, the company's distributions have been remarkably stable. Since 2014, the dividend has gone from $0.72 total annually to $1.60. This implies that the company grew its distributions at a yearly rate of about 8.3% over that duration. The dividend has been growing very nicely for a number of years, and has given its shareholders some nice income in their portfolios.
Dividend Growth May Be Hard To Achieve
Some investors will be chomping at the bit to buy some of the company's stock based on its dividend history. Earnings per share has been crawling upwards at 4.0% per year. If Great Southern Bancorp is struggling to find viable investments, it always has the option to increase its payout ratio to pay more to shareholders.
We Really Like Great Southern Bancorp's Dividend
In summary, it is good to see that the dividend is staying consistent, and we don't think there is any reason to suspect this might change over the medium term. The distributions are easily covered by earnings, and there is plenty of cash being generated as well. We should point out that the earnings are expected to fall over the next 12 months, which won't be a problem if this doesn't become a trend, but could cause some turbulence in the next year. Taking this all into consideration, this looks like it could be a good dividend opportunity.
Market movements attest to how highly valued a consistent dividend policy is compared to one which is more unpredictable. 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 Great Southern Bancorp 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.
