Just 4 Days Before Owens-Illinois, Inc. (NYSE:OI) Will Be Trading Ex-Dividend
Regular readers will know that we love our dividends at Simply Wall St, which is why it's exciting to see Owens-Illinois, Inc. (NYSE:OI) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next 4 days. You can purchase shares before the 29th of August in order to receive the dividend, which the company will pay on the 16th of September.
Owens-Illinois's next dividend payment will be US$0.05 per share. Last year, in total, the company distributed US$0.20 to shareholders. Based on the last year's worth of payments, Owens-Illinois has a trailing yield of 2.0% on the current stock price of $9.76. Dividends are a major contributor to investment returns for long term holders, but only if the dividend continues to be paid. So we need to check whether the dividend payments are covered, and if earnings are growing.
See our latest analysis for Owens-Illinois
If a company pays out more in dividends than it earned, then the dividend might become unsustainable - hardly an ideal situation. Owens-Illinois has a low and conservative payout ratio of just 17% of its income after tax. That said, even highly profitable companies sometimes might not generate enough cash to pay the dividend, which is why we should always check if the dividend is covered by cash flow.
Owens-Illinois paid a dividend despite reporting negative free cash flow over the last twelve months. This may be due to heavy investment in the business, but this is still suboptimal from a dividend sustainability perspective.
It's positive to see that Owens-Illinois's dividend is covered by both profits and cash flow, since this is generally a sign that the dividend is sustainable, and a lower payout ratio usually suggests a greater margin of safety before the dividend gets cut.
Click here to see the company's payout ratio, plus analyst estimates of its future dividends.
Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?
When earnings decline, dividend companies become much harder to analyse and own safely. If earnings decline and the company is forced to cut its dividend, investors could watch the value of their investment go up in smoke. With that in mind, we're discomforted by Owens-Illinois's 15% per annum decline in earnings in the past five years. Ultimately, when earnings per share decline, the size of the pie from which dividends can be paid, shrinks.
Given that Owens-Illinois has only been paying a dividend for a year, there's not much of a past history to draw insight from.
To Sum It Up
Should investors buy Owens-Illinois for the upcoming dividend? It's disappointing to see earnings per share declining, and this would ordinarily be enough to discourage us from most dividend stocks, even though Owens-Illinois is paying out less than half its income as dividends. However, it's also paying out an uncomfortably high percentage of its cash flow, which makes us wonder just how sustainable the dividend really is. It's not the most attractive proposition from a dividend perspective, and we'd probably give this one a miss for now.
Curious what other investors think of Owens-Illinois? See what analysts are forecasting, with this visualisation of its historical and future estimated earnings and cash flow .
We wouldn't recommend just buying the first dividend stock you see, though. Here's a list of interesting 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.
