Here's What We Like About ELGI Equipments Limited (NSE:ELGIEQUIP)'s Upcoming Dividend

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ELGI Equipments Limited (NSE:ELGIEQUIP) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next 3 days. Investors can purchase shares before the 25th of July in order to be eligible for this dividend, which will be paid on the 28th of August.

ELGI Equipments's upcoming dividend is ₹1.30 a share, following on from the last 12 months, when the company distributed a total of ₹1.30 per share to shareholders. Based on the last year's worth of payments, ELGI Equipments stock has a trailing yield of around 0.5% on the current share price of ₹259.7. If you buy this business for its dividend, you should have an idea of whether ELGI Equipments's dividend is reliable and sustainable. We need to see whether the dividend is covered by earnings and if it's growing.

View our latest analysis for ELGI Equipments

Dividends are usually paid out of company profits, so if a company pays out more than it earned then its dividend is usually at greater risk of being cut. ELGI Equipments has a low and conservative payout ratio of just 20% of its income after tax. Yet cash flows are even more important than profits for assessing a dividend, so we need to see if the company generated enough cash to pay its distribution. The good news is it paid out just 16% of its free cash flow in the last year.

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 the company's payout ratio, plus analyst estimates of its future dividends.

NSEI:ELGIEQUIP Historical Dividend Yield, July 20th 2019
NSEI:ELGIEQUIP Historical Dividend Yield, July 20th 2019

Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?

Businesses with strong growth prospects usually make the best dividend payers, because it's easier to grow dividends when earnings per share are improving. If earnings decline and the company is forced to cut its dividend, investors could watch the value of their investment go up in smoke. For this reason, we're glad to see ELGI Equipments's earnings per share have risen 18% per annum over the last five years. Earnings per share are growing rapidly and the company is keeping more than half of its earnings within the business; an attractive combination which could suggest the company is focused on reinvesting to grow earnings further. Fast-growing businesses that are reinvesting heavily are enticing from a dividend perspective, especially since they can often increase the payout ratio later.

Many investors will assess a company's dividend performance by evaluating how much the dividend payments have changed over time. ELGI Equipments has delivered 7.2% dividend growth per year on average over the past 10 years. It's encouraging to see the company lifting dividends while earnings are growing, suggesting at least some corporate interest in rewarding shareholders.

Final Takeaway

Has ELGI Equipments got what it takes to maintain its dividend payments? We love that ELGI Equipments is growing earnings per share while simultaneously paying out a low percentage of both its earnings and cash flow. These characteristics suggest the company is reinvesting in growing its business, while the conservative payout ratio also implies a reduced risk of the dividend being cut in the future. It's a promising combination that should mark this company worthy of closer attention.

Wondering what the future holds for ELGI Equipments? See what the five analysts we track are forecasting, with this visualisation of its historical and future estimated earnings and cash flow

A common investment mistake is buying the first interesting stock you see. Here you can find a list of promising dividend stocks with a greater than 2% yield and an upcoming dividend.

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.

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