UMH Properties Inc (UMH): What You Have To Know Before Buying For The Upcoming Dividend
If you are interested in cashing in on UMH Properties Inc’s (NYSE:UMH) upcoming dividend of $0.18 per share, you only have 3 days left to buy the shares before its ex-dividend date, 14 November 2017, in time for dividends payable on the 15 December 2017. Is this future income a persuasive enough catalyst for investors to think about UMH as an investment today? Below, 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 UMH Properties
5 checks you should use to assess a dividend stock
Whenever I am looking at a potential dividend stock investment, I always check these five metrics:
Is their annual yield among the top 25% of dividend payers?
Has its dividend been stable over the past (i.e. no missed payments or significant payout cuts)?
Has the amount of dividend per share grown over the past?
Can it afford to pay the current rate of dividends from its earnings?
Based on future earnings growth, will it be able to continue to payout dividend at the current rate?
How does UMH Properties fare?
UMH Properties has a negative payout ratio, which means that it is loss-making, and paying its dividend from its retained earnings. Analysts have not forecasted a dividends per share for the future, which makes it hard to determine the yield shareholders should expect to see moving forward. 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. Dividend payments from UMH Properties have been volatile in the past 10 years, with some years experiencing significant drops of over 25%. This means that dividend hunters should probably steer clear of the stock, at least for now until the track record improves. Compared to its peers, UMH has a yield of 4.69%, which is high for equity real estate investment trusts (reits) stocks.
What this means for you:
Are you a shareholder? You may be wondering why UMH Properties is paying out dividends at all, instead of re-investing into the business to generate higher cash flows in the future. It may be beneficial exploring other income stocks as alternatives to UMH or even look at high-growth stocks to supplement your steady income stocks. I recommend continuing your research by checking out 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 UMH’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, UMH 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. Check our latest free fundmental analysis to explore other aspects of UMH.
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.
