Yahoo Finance Graco (NYSE:GGG) Will Pay A Larger Dividend Than Last Year At $0.235
The board of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) has announced that it will be increasing its dividend by 12% on the 1st of February to $0.235, up from last year's comparable payment of $0.21. Although the dividend is now higher, the yield is only 1.2%, which is below the industry average.
Check out our latest analysis for Graco
Graco's Dividend Is Well Covered By Earnings
While yield is important, another factor to consider about a company's dividend is whether the current payout levels are feasible. However, prior to this announcement, Graco was quite comfortably covering its dividend with earnings and it was paying more than 75% of its free cash flow to shareholders. The business is earning enough to make the dividend feasible, but the cash payout ratio of 82% shows that most of the cash is going back to the shareholders, which could constrain growth prospects going forward.
Over the next year, EPS is forecast to expand by 25.7%. Assuming the dividend continues along recent trends, we think the payout ratio could be 28% by next year, which is in a pretty sustainable range.
Graco Has A Solid Track Record
The company has an extended history of paying stable dividends. The dividend has gone from an annual total of $0.30 in 2012 to the most recent total annual payment of $0.84. This means that it has been growing its distributions at 11% per annum over that time. We can see that payments have shown some very nice upward momentum without faltering, which provides some reassurance that future payments will also be reliable.
The Dividend Looks Likely To Grow
Some investors will be chomping at the bit to buy some of the company's stock based on its dividend history. Graco has impressed us by growing EPS at 32% per year over the past five years. Earnings have been growing rapidly, and with a low payout ratio we think that the company could turn out to be a great dividend stock.
In Summary
Overall, it's great to see the dividend being raised and that it is still in a sustainable range. However, lack of cash flows makes us wary of the potential for cuts in the dividend's future, even though the dividend is generally looking okay. The dividend looks okay, but there have been some issues in the past, so we would be a little bit cautious.
Investors generally tend to favour companies with a consistent, stable dividend policy as opposed to those operating an irregular one. However, there are other things to consider for investors when analysing stock performance. For example, we've picked out 1 warning sign for Graco that investors should know about before committing capital to this stock. Is Graco not quite the opportunity you were looking for? Why not check out our selection of top dividend stocks.
Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.
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.
Join A Paid User Research Session
You’ll receive a US$30 Amazon Gift card for 1 hour of your time while helping us build better investing tools for the individual investors like yourself. Sign up here
