Yahoo Finance Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) Is Increasing Its Dividend To US$1.73
The board of Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) has announced that it will be increasing its dividend by 10% on the 15th of June to US$1.73. This takes the annual payment to 1.5% of the current stock price, which unfortunately is below what the industry is paying.
View our latest analysis for Northrop Grumman
Northrop Grumman's Earnings Easily Cover the Distributions
While yield is important, another factor to consider about a company's dividend is whether the current payout levels are feasible. Before making this announcement, Northrop Grumman was easily earning enough to cover the dividend. As a result, a large proportion of what it earned was being reinvested back into the business.
Looking forward, earnings per share is forecast to fall by 30.2% over the next year. Assuming the dividend continues along recent trends, we believe the payout ratio could be 28%, which we are pretty comfortable with and we think is feasible on an earnings basis.
Northrop Grumman Has A Solid Track Record
The company has been paying a dividend for a long time, and it has been quite stable which gives us confidence in the future dividend potential. Since 2012, the first annual payment was US$2.00, compared to the most recent full-year payment of US$6.28. This implies that the company grew its distributions at a yearly rate of about 12% over that duration. 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. Northrop Grumman has impressed us by growing EPS at 23% 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.
Northrop Grumman Looks Like A Great Dividend Stock
Overall, a dividend increase is always good, and we think that Northrop Grumman is a strong income stock thanks to its track record and growing earnings. The distributions are easily covered by earnings, and there is plenty of cash being generated as well. However, it is worth noting that the earnings are expected to fall over the next year, which may not change the long term outlook, but could affect the dividend payment in the next 12 months. All of these factors considered, we think this has solid potential as a dividend stock.
Investors generally tend to favour companies with a consistent, stable dividend policy as opposed to those operating an irregular one. Still, investors need to consider a host of other factors, apart from dividend payments, when analysing a company. For example, we've picked out 2 warning signs for Northrop Grumman 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 yield dividend stocks.
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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.
