Yahoo Finance Spectris' (LON:SXS) Shareholders Will Receive A Bigger Dividend Than Last Year
Spectris plc (LON:SXS) has announced that it will be increasing its periodic dividend on the 11th of November to £0.241, which will be 4.8% higher than last year's comparable payment amount of £0.23. This takes the dividend yield to 2.4%, which shareholders will be pleased with.
See our latest analysis for Spectris
Spectris' Payment Has Solid Earnings Coverage
While it is great to have a strong dividend yield, we should also consider whether the payment is sustainable. Prior to this announcement, Spectris' dividend was only 40% of earnings, however it was paying out 140% of free cash flows. The company might be more focused on returning cash to shareholders, but paying out this much of its cash flow could expose the dividend to being cut in the future.
Over the next year, EPS is forecast to fall by 7.5%. Assuming the dividend continues along recent trends, we believe the payout ratio could be 44%, which we are pretty comfortable with and we think is feasible on an earnings basis.
Spectris Has A Solid Track Record
Even over a long history of paying dividends, the company's distributions have been remarkably stable. Since 2012, the annual payment back then was £0.291, compared to the most recent full-year payment of £0.718. This means that it has been growing its distributions at 9.5% per annum over that time. The growth of the dividend has been pretty reliable, so we think this can offer investors some nice additional income in their portfolio.
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. We are encouraged to see that Spectris has grown earnings per share at 82% per year over the past five years. The company doesn't have any problems growing, despite returning a lot of capital to shareholders, which is a very nice combination for a dividend stock to have.
In Summary
Overall, we always like to see the dividend being raised, but we don't think Spectris will make a great income stock. With cash flows lacking, it is difficult to see how the company can sustain a dividend payment. This company is not in the top tier of income providing stocks.
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 identified 3 warning signs for Spectris (1 is a bit concerning!) that you should be aware of before investing. Is Spectris not quite the opportunity you were looking for? Why not check out our selection of top 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.
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