QTS Realty Trust Inc (QTS): Ex-Dividend Is Coming In 3 Days, Should You Buy?
Shares of QTS Realty Trust Inc (NYSE:QTS) will begin trading ex-dividend in 3 days. To qualify for the dividend check of $0.39 per share, investors must have owned the shares prior to 04 December 2017, which is the last day the company’s management will finalize their list of shareholders to which they will send dividend payments. Should you diversify into QTS 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. Check out our latest analysis for QTS Realty Trust
5 checks you should use to assess a dividend stock
When assessing a stock as a potential addition to my dividend Portfolio, I look at these five areas:
Does it pay an annual yield higher than 75% of dividend payers?
Does it consistently pay out dividends without missing a payment of significantly cutting payout?
Has dividend per share amount increased over the past?
Does earnings amply cover its dividend payments?
Based on future earnings growth, will it be able to continue to payout dividend at the current rate?
How does QTS Realty Trust fare?
QTS currently pays out twice what it is earning, meaning that the dividend is predominantly funded by retained earnings. Furthermore, analysts are forecasting the payout ratio to remain at this high level going forward, leading to a future of uncertainty around the stability of QTS’s dividend income. Reliablity is an important factor for dividend stocks, particularly for income investors who want a strong track record of payment and a positive outlook for future payout. The reality is that it is too early to consider QTS Realty Trust as a dividend investment. It has only been consistently paying dividends for 4 years, however, standard practice for reliable payers is to look for a 10-year minimum track record. In terms of its peers, QTS generates a yield of 2.73%, which is on the low-side for equity real estate investment trusts (reits) stocks.
What this means for you:
Are you a shareholder? Investors may not have the best feeling about their investment in QTS right now, in terms of its dividend attributes. It may be beneficial exploring other income stocks as alternatives to QTS or even look at high-growth stocks to complement your steady income stocks. I suggest continuing your research by exploring my interactive free list of dividend rockstars as well as high-growth stocks to potentially add to your holdings.
Are you a potential investor? After digging a little deeper into QTS’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, QTS could still be an interesting investment opportunity. As with all investments, 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. Dig deeper in our latest free fundmental analysis to explore other aspects of QTS.
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.
