Yahoo Finance 3 Days Left Until AA plc (LON:AA.) Trades Ex-Dividend
AA plc (LON:AA.) stock is about to trade ex-dividend in 3 days time. Ex-dividend means that investors that purchase the stock on or after the 3rd of October will not receive this dividend, which will be paid on the 8th of November.
AA's next dividend payment will be UK£0.006 per share, on the back of last year when the company paid a total of UK£0.02 to shareholders. Last year's total dividend payments show that AA has a trailing yield of 3.3% on the current share price of £0.614. Dividends are an important source of income to many shareholders, but the health of the business is crucial to maintaining those dividends. As a result, readers should always check whether AA has been able to grow its dividends, or if the dividend might be cut.
View our latest analysis for AA
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. AA paid out just 23% of its profit last year, which we think is conservatively low and leaves plenty of margin for unexpected circumstances. A useful secondary check can be to evaluate whether AA generated enough free cash flow to afford its dividend. The good news is it paid out just 5.5% of its free cash flow in the last year.
It's positive to see that AA's dividend is covered by both profits and cash flow, since this is generally a sign that the dividend is sustainable, and a lower payout ratio usually suggests a greater margin of safety before the dividend gets cut.
Click here to see the company's payout ratio, plus analyst estimates of its future dividends.
Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?
Businesses with shrinking earnings are tricky from a dividend perspective. Investors love dividends, so if earnings fall and the dividend is reduced, expect a stock to be sold off heavily at the same time. With that in mind, we're discomforted by AA's 23% per annum decline in earnings in the past five years. When earnings per share fall, the maximum amount of dividends that can be paid also falls.
The main way most investors will assess a company's dividend prospects is by checking the historical rate of dividend growth. AA has seen its dividend decline 31% per annum on average over the past four years, which is not great to see. While it's not great that earnings and dividends per share have fallen in recent years, we're encouraged by the fact that management has trimmed the dividend rather than risk over-committing the company in a risky attempt to maintain yields to shareholders.
The Bottom Line
Is AA an attractive dividend stock, or better left on the shelf? AA has comfortably low cash and profit payout ratios, which may mean the dividend is sustainable even in the face of a sharp decline in earnings per share. Still, we consider declining earnings to be a warning sign. Overall, it's not a bad combination, but we feel that there are likely more attractive dividend prospects out there.
Ever wonder what the future holds for AA? See what the five analysts we track are forecasting, with this visualisation of its historical and future estimated earnings and cash flow
If you're in the market for dividend stocks, we recommend checking our list of top 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.
