NACCO Industries, Inc. (NYSE:NC) Stock Goes Ex-Dividend In Just Three Days
NACCO Industries, Inc. (NYSE:NC) stock is about to trade ex-dividend in three days. The ex-dividend date is usually set to be one business day before the record date which is the cut-off date on which you must be present on the company's books as a shareholder in order to receive the dividend. The ex-dividend date is of consequence because whenever a stock is bought or sold, the trade takes at least two business day to settle. In other words, investors can purchase NACCO Industries' shares before the 1st of September in order to be eligible for the dividend, which will be paid on the 15th of September.
The company's next dividend payment will be US$0.22 per share, and in the last 12 months, the company paid a total of US$0.87 per share. Looking at the last 12 months of distributions, NACCO Industries has a trailing yield of approximately 2.7% on its current stock price of $32.58. We love seeing companies pay a dividend, but it's also important to be sure that laying the golden eggs isn't going to kill our golden goose! So we need to investigate whether NACCO Industries can afford its dividend, and if the dividend could grow.
Check out our latest analysis for NACCO Industries
Dividends are typically paid from company earnings. If a company pays more in dividends than it earned in profit, then the dividend could be unsustainable. NACCO Industries paid out just 19% of its profit last year, which we think is conservatively low and leaves plenty of margin for unexpected circumstances. A useful secondary check can be to evaluate whether NACCO Industries generated enough free cash flow to afford its dividend. It paid out 91% of its free cash flow in the form of dividends last year, which is outside the comfort zone for most businesses. Companies usually need cash more than they need earnings - expenses don't pay themselves - so it's not great to see it paying out so much of its cash flow.
While NACCO Industries's dividends were covered by the company's reported profits, cash is somewhat more important, so it's not great to see that the company didn't generate enough cash to pay its dividend. Cash is king, as they say, and were NACCO Industries to repeatedly pay dividends that aren't well covered by cashflow, we would consider this a warning sign.
Click here to see how much of its profit NACCO Industries paid out over the last 12 months.
Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?
Companies that aren't growing their earnings can still be valuable, but it is even more important to assess the sustainability of the dividend if it looks like the company will struggle to grow. 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 not enthused to see that NACCO Industries's earnings per share have remained effectively flat over the past five years. It's better than seeing them drop, certainly, but over the long term, all of the best dividend stocks are able to meaningfully grow their earnings per share. Earnings have been growing somewhat, but we're concerned dividend payments consumed most of the company's cash flow over the past year.
The main way most investors will assess a company's dividend prospects is by checking the historical rate of dividend growth. NACCO Industries has seen its dividend decline 1.4% per annum on average over the past 10 years, which is not great to see.
The Bottom Line
Should investors buy NACCO Industries for the upcoming dividend? Earnings per share have barely grown in this time, and although NACCO Industries is paying out a low percentage of its profit, its dividend was not well covered by free cash flow. Only rarely do we find companies paying out a low percentage of their profits yet a high percentage of their cash flow, so we'd mark this as a concern. Overall, it's hard to get excited about NACCO Industries from a dividend perspective.
So if you want to do more digging on NACCO Industries, you'll find it worthwhile knowing the risks that this stock faces. Every company has risks, and we've spotted 3 warning signs for NACCO Industries you should know about.
A common investing mistake is buying the first interesting stock you see. Here you can find a full 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.
