Yahoo Finance It Might Not Be A Great Idea To Buy Orchard Funding Group plc (LON:ORCH) For Its Next Dividend
It looks like Orchard Funding Group plc (LON:ORCH) is about to go ex-dividend in the next three days. The ex-dividend date is one business day before a company's record date, which is the date on which the company determines which shareholders are entitled to receive a dividend. The ex-dividend date is important as the process of settlement involves two full business days. So if you miss that date, you would not show up on the company's books on the record date. Thus, you can purchase Orchard Funding Group's shares before the 9th of December in order to receive the dividend, which the company will pay on the 17th of December.
The company's next dividend payment will be UK£0.02 per share, and in the last 12 months, the company paid a total of UK£0.03 per share. Looking at the last 12 months of distributions, Orchard Funding Group has a trailing yield of approximately 5.4% on its current stock price of £0.555. If you buy this business for its dividend, you should have an idea of whether Orchard Funding Group's dividend is reliable and sustainable. We need to see whether the dividend is covered by earnings and if it's growing.
View our latest analysis for Orchard Funding Group
If a company pays out more in dividends than it earned, then the dividend might become unsustainable - hardly an ideal situation. It paid out 76% of its earnings as dividends last year, which is not unreasonable, but limits reinvestment in the business and leaves the dividend vulnerable to a business downturn. We'd be worried about the risk of a drop in earnings. Orchard Funding Group paid a dividend despite reporting negative free cash flow over the last twelve months. This may be due to heavy investment in the business, but this is still suboptimal from a dividend sustainability perspective.
Generally speaking, the lower a company's payout ratios, the more resilient its dividend usually is.
Click here to see how much of its profit Orchard Funding Group paid out over the last 12 months.
Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?
Businesses with shrinking earnings are tricky from a dividend perspective. If business enters a downturn and the dividend is cut, the company could see its value fall precipitously. So we're not too excited that Orchard Funding Group's earnings are down 3.5% a year over the past five years.
The main way most investors will assess a company's dividend prospects is by checking the historical rate of dividend growth. Orchard Funding Group has delivered 1.1% dividend growth per year on average over the past six years.
Final Takeaway
Is Orchard Funding Group an attractive dividend stock, or better left on the shelf? Earnings per share have been declining and the company is paying out more than half its profits to shareholders; not an enticing combination. This is not an overtly appealing combination of characteristics, and we're just not that interested in this company's dividend.
Having said that, if you're looking at this stock without much concern for the dividend, you should still be familiar of the risks involved with Orchard Funding Group. Every company has risks, and we've spotted 5 warning signs for Orchard Funding Group (of which 2 don't sit too well with us!) you should know about.
A common investment mistake is buying the first interesting stock you see. Here you can find a list of promising dividend stocks with a greater than 2% yield and an upcoming dividend.
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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.
