Be Sure To Check Out Principal Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:PFG) Before It Goes Ex-Dividend
Readers hoping to buy Principal Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:PFG) for its dividend will need to make their move shortly, as the stock is about to trade ex-dividend. Investors can purchase shares before the 4th of September in order to be eligible for this dividend, which will be paid on the 27th of September.
Principal Financial Group's next dividend payment will be US$0.55 per share, on the back of last year when the company paid a total of US$2.20 to shareholders. Calculating the last year's worth of payments shows that Principal Financial Group has a trailing yield of 4.1% on the current share price of $53.22. Dividends are an important source of income to many shareholders, but the health of the business is crucial to maintaining those dividends. So we need to investigate whether Principal Financial Group can afford its dividend, and if the dividend could grow.
View our latest analysis for Principal Financial Group
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. Principal Financial Group paid out a comfortable 40% of its profit last year.
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?
Businesses with strong growth prospects usually make the best dividend payers, because it's easier to grow dividends when earnings per share are improving. If business enters a downturn and the dividend is cut, the company could see its value fall precipitously. For this reason, we're glad to see Principal Financial Group's earnings per share have risen 12% per annum over the last five years.
Many investors will assess a company's dividend performance by evaluating how much the dividend payments have changed over time. In the past 10 years, Principal Financial Group has increased its dividend at approximately 17% a year on average. It's exciting to see that both earnings and dividends per share have grown rapidly over the past few years.
The Bottom Line
Is Principal Financial Group 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. This is one of the most attractive investment combinations under this analysis, as it can create substantial value for investors over the long run. In summary, Principal Financial Group appears to have some promise as a dividend stock, and we'd suggest taking a closer look at it.
Wondering what the future holds for Principal Financial Group? See what the seven analysts we track are forecasting, with this visualisation of its historical and future estimated earnings and cash flow
We wouldn't recommend just buying the first dividend stock you see, though. Here's a list of interesting dividend stocks with a greater than 2% yield and an upcoming dividend.
We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.
If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. 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. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
