Yahoo Finance Auckland International Airport Limited (NZSE:AIA): 4 Days To Buy Before The Ex-Dividend Date
Attention dividend hunters! Auckland International Airport Limited (NZSE:AIA) will be distributing its dividend of NZ$0.13 per share on the 19 October 2018, and will start trading ex-dividend in 4 days time on the 04 October 2018. Investors looking for higher income-generating stocks to add to their portfolio should keep reading, as I take a deeper dive into Auckland International Airport’s latest financial data to analyse its dividend attributes.
See our latest analysis for Auckland International Airport
5 questions I ask before picking a dividend stock
If you are a dividend investor, you should always assess these five key metrics:
Is their annual yield among the top 25% of dividend payers?
Does it consistently pay out dividends without missing a payment of significantly cutting payout?
Has dividend per share amount increased over the past?
Can it afford to pay the current rate of dividends from its earnings?
Will it have the ability to keep paying its dividends going forward?
Does Auckland International Airport pass our checks?
The current trailing twelve-month payout ratio for the stock is 40.0%, which means that the dividend is covered by earnings. Going forward, analysts expect AIA’s payout to increase to 100% of its earnings, which leads to a dividend yield of around 3.3%. However, EPS is forecasted to fall to NZ$0.23 in the upcoming year. Therefore, although payout is expected to increase, the fall in earnings may not equate to higher dividend income. This also brings about uncertainty around the sustainability of the payout ratio.
When considering the sustainability of dividends, it is also worth checking the cash flow of a company. Companies with strong cash flow can sustain a higher payout ratio, while companies with weaker cash flow generally cannot.
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. Whilst its per-share payments have increased during the past 10 years, there has been some hiccups. Investors have seen reductions in the dividend per share in the past, although, it has picked up again.
In terms of its peers, Auckland International Airport generates a yield of 3.0%, which is on the low-side for Infrastructure stocks.
Next Steps:
If Auckland International Airport is in your portfolio for cash-generating reasons, there may be better alternatives out there. But if you are not exclusively a dividend investor, the stock could still be an interesting investment opportunity. Given that this is purely a dividend analysis, 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. Below, I’ve compiled three key factors you should further research:
Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for AIA’s future growth? Take a look at our free research report of analyst consensus for AIA’s outlook.
Historical Performance: What has AIA’s returns been like over the past? Go into more detail in the past track record analysis and take a look at the free visual representations of our analysis for more clarity.
Dividend Rockstars: Are there better dividend payers with stronger fundamentals out there? Check out our free list of these great stocks here.
To help readers see past 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. For errors that warrant correction please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com.
