Primerica, Inc. (NYSE:PRI) Looks Interesting, And It's About To Pay A Dividend
Regular readers will know that we love our dividends at Simply Wall St, which is why it's exciting to see Primerica, Inc. (NYSE:PRI) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next four days. This means that investors who purchase shares on or after the 19th of February will not receive the dividend, which will be paid on the 15th of March.
Primerica's next dividend payment will be US$0.47 per share, and in the last 12 months, the company paid a total of US$1.88 per share. Looking at the last 12 months of distributions, Primerica has a trailing yield of approximately 1.3% on its current stock price of $141.77. If you buy this business for its dividend, you should have an idea of whether Primerica's dividend is reliable and sustainable. That's why we should always check whether the dividend payments appear sustainable, and if the company is growing.
See our latest analysis for Primerica
If a company pays out more in dividends than it earned, then the dividend might become unsustainable - hardly an ideal situation. Primerica is paying out just 17% of its profit after tax, which is comfortably low and leaves plenty of breathing room in the case of adverse events.
When a company paid out less in dividends than it earned in profit, this generally suggests its dividend is affordable. The lower the % of its profit that it pays out, the greater the margin of safety for the dividend if the business enters a downturn.
Click here to see the company's payout ratio, plus analyst estimates of its future dividends.
Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?
Stocks in companies that generate sustainable earnings growth often make the best dividend prospects, as it is easier to lift the dividend when earnings are rising. Investors love dividends, so if earnings fall and the dividend is reduced, expect a stock to be sold off heavily at the same time. That's why it's comforting to see Primerica's earnings have been skyrocketing, up 21% per annum for the past five years.
Another key way to measure a company's dividend prospects is by measuring its historical rate of dividend growth. Since the start of our data, 10 years ago, Primerica has lifted its dividend by approximately 47% a year on average. It's great to see earnings per share growing rapidly over several years, and dividends per share growing right along with it.
The Bottom Line
Is Primerica worth buying for its dividend? When companies are growing rapidly and retaining a majority of the profits within the business, it's usually a sign that reinvesting earnings creates more value than paying dividends to shareholders. Perhaps even more importantly - this can sometimes signal management is focused on the long term future of the business. Primerica ticks a lot of boxes for us from a dividend perspective, and we think these characteristics should mark the company as deserving of further attention.
So while Primerica looks good from a dividend perspective, it's always worthwhile being up to date with the risks involved in this stock. Our analysis shows 1 warning sign for Primerica and you should be aware of this before buying any shares.
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.
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. 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.
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