Only 3 Days Left Before Star Group LP (NYSE:SGU) Will Start Trading Ex-Dividend, Should You Buy?
Important news for shareholders and potential investors in Star Group LP (NYSE:SGU): The dividend payment of $0.11 per share will be distributed into shareholder on 06 February 2018, and the stock will begin trading ex-dividend at an earlier date, 26 January 2018. Investors looking for higher income-generating stocks to add to their portfolio should keep reading, as I examine Star Group’s latest financial data to analyse its dividend characteristics. View our latest analysis for Star Group
5 questions to ask before buying a dividend stock
When researching a dividend stock, I always follow the following screening criteria:
Is their annual yield among the top 25% of dividend payers?
Has it paid dividend every year without dramatically reducing payout in the past?
Has dividend per share amount increased over the past?
Is its earnings sufficient to payout dividend at the current rate?
Based on future earnings growth, will it be able to continue to payout dividend at the current rate?
Does Star Group pass our checks?
The current payout ratio for SGU is 93.58%, meaning the dividend is not sufficiently covered by its 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 dividend is a key criteria in your investment consideration, then you need to make sure the dividend stock you’re eyeing out is reliable in its payments. Unfortunately, it is really too early to view Star Group as a dividend investment. It has only been consistently paying dividends for 9 years, however, standard practice for reliable payers is to look for a 10-year minimum track record. Compared to its peers, Star Group has a yield of 4.11%, which is high for gas utilities stocks.
Next Steps:
After digging a little deeper into Star Group’s yield, it’s easy to see why you should be cautious investing in the company just for the dividend. But if you are not exclusively a dividend investor, the stock could still be an interesting investment opportunity. Given that this is purely a dividend analysis, you should always research extensively before deciding whether or not a stock is an appropriate investment for you. I always recommend analysing the company’s fundamentals and underlying business before making an investment decision. There are three relevant factors you should look at:
1. Historical Performance: What has SGU’s returns been like over the past? Go into more detail in the past track record analysis and take a look at the free visual representations of our analysis for more clarity.
2. Management Team: An experienced management team on the helm increases our confidence in the business – take a look at who sits on Star Group’s board and the CEO’s back ground.
3. 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 pass 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.
