XP Power (LON:XPP) Has Announced That It Will Be Increasing Its Dividend To UK£0.21
XP Power Limited (LON:XPP) will increase its dividend on the 17th of January to UK£0.21. This takes the dividend yield from 1.5% to 1.8%, which shareholders will be pleased with.
See our latest analysis for XP Power
XP Power's Earnings Easily Cover the Distributions
We like to see robust dividend yields, but that doesn't matter if the payment isn't sustainable. Prior to this announcement, XP Power's dividend was comfortably covered by both cash flow and earnings. This indicates that a lot of the earnings are being reinvested into the business, with the aim of fueling growth.
EPS is set to fall by 4.1% over the next 12 months. Assuming the dividend continues along recent trends, we believe the payout ratio could be 52%, which we are pretty comfortable with and we think is feasible on an earnings basis.
Dividend Volatility
The company's dividend history has been marked by instability, with at least 1 cut in the last 10 years. Since 2011, the dividend has gone from UK£0.48 to UK£0.74. This means that it has been growing its distributions at 4.4% per annum over that time. It's encouraging to see some dividend growth, but the dividend has been cut at least once, and the size of the cut would eliminate most of the growth anyway, which makes this less attractive as an income investment.
The Dividend Looks Likely To Grow
Given that the dividend has been cut in the past, we need to check if earnings are growing and if that might lead to stronger dividends in the future. XP Power has impressed us by growing EPS at 13% per year over the past five years. The company is paying a reasonable amount of earnings to shareholders, and is growing earnings at a decent rate so we think it could be a decent dividend stock.
We Really Like XP Power's Dividend
In summary, it is always positive to see the dividend being increased, and we are particularly pleased with its overall sustainability. The company is generating plenty of cash, and the earnings also quite easily cover the distributions. We should point out that the earnings are expected to fall over the next 12 months, which won't be a problem if this doesn't become a trend, but could cause some turbulence in the next year. Taking this all into consideration, this looks like it could be a good dividend opportunity.
Companies possessing a stable dividend policy will likely enjoy greater investor interest than those suffering from a more inconsistent approach. However, there are other things to consider for investors when analysing stock performance. For example, we've picked out 1 warning sign for XP Power that investors should know about before committing capital to this stock. If you are a dividend investor, you might also want to look at our curated list of high performing dividend stock.
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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