There's A Lot To Like About Lakeland Financial Corporation's (NASDAQ:LKFN) Upcoming 0.7% Dividend
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It looks like Lakeland Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:LKFN) is about to go ex-dividend in the next 3 days. This means that investors who purchase shares on or after the 24th of July will not receive the dividend, which will be paid on the 5th of August.
Lakeland Financial's next dividend payment will be US$0.30 per share, on the back of last year when the company paid a total of US$1.20 to shareholders. Based on the last year's worth of payments, Lakeland Financial stock has a trailing yield of around 2.7% on the current share price of $44.39. If you buy this business for its dividend, you should have an idea of whether Lakeland Financial's dividend is reliable and sustainable. So we need to investigate whether Lakeland Financial can afford its dividend, and if the dividend could grow.
See our latest analysis for Lakeland Financial
Dividends are typically paid out of company income, so if a company pays out more than it earned, its dividend is usually at a higher risk of being cut. That's why it's good to see Lakeland Financial paying out a modest 33% of its earnings.
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. Fortunately for readers, Lakeland Financial's earnings per share have been growing at 16% a year for the past five years.
Another key way to measure a company's dividend prospects is by measuring its historical rate of dividend growth. In the last 10 years, Lakeland Financial has lifted its dividend by approximately 11% a year on average. Both per-share earnings and dividends have both been growing rapidly in recent times, which is great to see.
To Sum It Up
Should investors buy Lakeland Financial for the upcoming dividend? Companies like Lakeland Financial that are growing rapidly and paying out a low fraction of earnings, are usually reinvesting heavily in their business. This is one of the most attractive investment combinations under this analysis, as it can create substantial value for investors over the long run. Lakeland Financial 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.
Curious what other investors think of Lakeland Financial? See what analysts 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.
