Why It Might Not Make Sense To Buy BP P.L.C. (LON:BP.) For Its Upcoming Dividend
Regular readers will know that we love our dividends at Simply Wall St, which is why it's exciting to see BP P.L.C. (LON:BP.) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next 3 days. This means that investors who purchase shares on or after the 13th of February will not receive the dividend, which will be paid on the 27th of March.
BP's next dividend payment will be UK£0.10 per share, on the back of last year when the company paid a total of UK£0.42 to shareholders. Calculating the last year's worth of payments shows that BP has a trailing yield of 6.9% on the current share price of £4.7. If you buy this business for its dividend, you should have an idea of whether BP's dividend is reliable and sustainable. We need to see whether the dividend is covered by earnings and if it's growing.
See our latest analysis for BP
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. Last year, BP paid out 208% of its profit to shareholders in the form of dividends. This is not sustainable behaviour and requires a closer look on behalf of the purchaser. A useful secondary check can be to evaluate whether BP generated enough free cash flow to afford its dividend. Dividends consumed 67% of the company's free cash flow last year, which is within a normal range for most dividend-paying organisations.
It's good to see that while BP's dividends were not covered by profits, at least they are affordable from a cash perspective. If executives were to continue paying more in dividends than the company reported in profits, we'd view this as a warning sign. Very few companies are able to sustainably pay dividends larger than their reported earnings.
Click here to see the company's payout ratio, plus analyst estimates of its future dividends.
Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?
Companies that aren't growing their earnings can still be valuable, but it is even more important to assess the sustainability of the dividend if it looks like the company will struggle to grow. If earnings decline and the company is forced to cut its dividend, investors could watch the value of their investment go up in smoke. With that in mind, we're not enthused to see that BP's earnings per share have remained effectively flat over the past five years. Better than seeing them fall off a cliff, for sure, but the best dividend stocks grow their earnings meaningfully over the long run.
Many investors will assess a company's dividend performance by evaluating how much the dividend payments have changed over time. BP's dividend payments per share have declined at 2.8% per year on average over the past ten years, which is uninspiring.
The Bottom Line
Is BP worth buying for its dividend? The company has not generated any growth in earnings per share over the ten-year timeframe we measured. Plus, BP's paying out a high percentage of its earnings and more than half its cash flow. It's not an attractive combination from a dividend perspective, and we're inclined to pass on this one for the time being.
Ever wonder what the future holds for BP? See what the 20 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.
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.
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. Thank you for reading.
