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There's A Lot To Like About Farmers & Merchants Bancorp's (NASDAQ:FMAO) Upcoming US$0.21 Dividend

Simply Wall St
·3 min read

Regular readers will know that we love our dividends at Simply Wall St, which is why it's exciting to see Farmers & Merchants Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:FMAO) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next four days. Typically, the ex-dividend date is one business day before the record date which is the date on which a company determines the shareholders eligible to receive a dividend. The ex-dividend date is important as the process of settlement involves two full business days. So if you miss that date, you would not show up on the company's books on the record date. Therefore, if you purchase Farmers & Merchants Bancorp's shares on or after the 29th of December, you won't be eligible to receive the dividend, when it is paid on the 20th of January.

The company's upcoming dividend is US$0.21 a share, following on from the last 12 months, when the company distributed a total of US$0.84 per share to shareholders. Last year's total dividend payments show that Farmers & Merchants Bancorp has a trailing yield of 3.0% on the current share price of $27.83. Dividends are a major contributor to investment returns for long term holders, but only if the dividend continues to be paid. That's why we should always check whether the dividend payments appear sustainable, and if the company is growing.

Check out our latest analysis for Farmers & Merchants Bancorp

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. Fortunately Farmers & Merchants Bancorp's payout ratio is modest, at just 31% of profit.

Generally speaking, the lower a company's payout ratios, the more resilient its dividend usually is.

Click here to see the company's payout ratio, plus analyst estimates of its future dividends.

historic-dividend
historic-dividend

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 earnings fall far enough, the company could be forced to cut its dividend. For this reason, we're glad to see Farmers & Merchants Bancorp's earnings per share have risen 14% per annum over the last five years.

The main way most investors will assess a company's dividend prospects is by checking the historical rate of dividend growth. In the past 10 years, Farmers & Merchants Bancorp has increased its dividend at approximately 8.3% a year on average. We're glad to see dividends rising alongside earnings over a number of years, which may be a sign the company intends to share the growth with shareholders.

The Bottom Line

Has Farmers & Merchants Bancorp got what it takes to maintain its dividend payments? 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. We think this is a pretty attractive combination, and would be interested in investigating Farmers & Merchants Bancorp more closely.

While it's tempting to invest in Farmers & Merchants Bancorp for the dividends alone, you should always be mindful of the risks involved. To help with this, we've discovered 1 warning sign for Farmers & Merchants Bancorp that you should be aware of before investing in their shares.

Generally, we wouldn't recommend just buying the first dividend stock you see. Here's a curated list of interesting stocks that are strong dividend payers.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.

This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. 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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