Only 4 Days Left To Cash In On Washington Federal Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD) Dividend,
On the 23 November 2018, Washington Federal Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD) will be paying shareholders an upcoming dividend amount of US$0.18 per share. However, investors must have bought the company’s stock before 08 November 2018 in order to qualify for the payment. That means you have only 4 days left! Should you diversify into Washington Federal and boost your portfolio income stream? Well, keep on reading because today, I’m going to look at the latest data and analyze the stock and its dividend property in further detail.
See our latest analysis for Washington Federal
5 questions I ask before picking a dividend stock
If you are a dividend investor, you should always assess these five key metrics:
Does it pay an annual yield higher than 75% of dividend payers?
Has it paid dividend every year without dramatically reducing payout in the past?
Has it increased its dividend per share amount over the past?
Is is able to pay the current rate of dividends from its earnings?
Based on future earnings growth, will it be able to continue to payout dividend at the current rate?
Does Washington Federal pass our checks?
The company currently pays out 29% of its earnings as a dividend, according to its trailing twelve-month data, which means that the dividend is covered by earnings. In the near future, analysts are predicting a payout ratio of 30%, leading to a dividend yield of around 2.7%. In addition to this, EPS should increase to $2.51.
If you want to dive deeper into the sustainability of a certain payout ratio, you may wish to consider the cash flow of the business. A business with strong cash flow can sustain a higher divided payout ratio than a company with weak cash flow.
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. WAFD investors will be well aware there has not been any increase in the dividend payments over the last 10 years, although the payments have at least been steady. Though this may not be a serious red flag, strong dividend stocks should always strive to increase its payout over time.
In terms of its peers, Washington Federal has a yield of 2.6%, which is on the low-side for Mortgage stocks.
Next Steps:
With this in mind, I definitely rank Washington Federal as a strong dividend stock, and makes it worth further research for anyone who likes steady income generation from their portfolio. 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 fundamental factors you should further examine:
Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for WAFD’s future growth? Take a look at our free research report of analyst consensus for WAFD’s outlook.
Valuation: What is WAFD worth today? Even if the stock is a cash cow, it’s not worth an infinite price. The intrinsic value infographic in our free research report helps visualize whether WAFD is currently mispriced by the market.
Other 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 past 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. For errors that warrant correction please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com.
