Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) Is Due To Pay A Dividend Of US$0.32

The board of Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) has announced that it will pay a dividend on the 26th of July, with investors receiving US$0.32 per share. Based on this payment, the dividend yield on the company's stock will be 1.8%, which is an attractive boost to shareholder returns.

View our latest analysis for Oracle

Oracle's Payment Has Solid Earnings Coverage

Impressive dividend yields are good, but this doesn't matter much if the payments can't be sustained. Based on the last payment, Oracle was quite comfortably earning enough to cover the dividend. This indicates that quite a large proportion of earnings is being invested back into the business.

Looking forward, earnings per share is forecast to rise by 59.3% over the next year. If the dividend continues on this path, the payout ratio could be 36% by next year, which we think can be pretty sustainable going forward.

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Oracle Has A Solid Track Record

Even over a long history of paying dividends, the company's distributions have been remarkably stable. The dividend has gone from US$0.24 in 2012 to the most recent annual payment of US$1.28. This implies that the company grew its distributions at a yearly rate of about 18% over that duration. It is good to see that there has been strong dividend growth, and that there haven't been any cuts for a long time.

Oracle May Find It Hard To Grow The Dividend

Some investors will be chomping at the bit to buy some of the company's stock based on its dividend history. Although it's important to note that Oracle's earnings per share has basically not grown from where it was five years ago, which could erode the purchasing power of the dividend over time. Growth of 1.9% may indicate that the company has limited investment opportunity so it is returning its earnings to shareholders instead. This could mean the dividend doesn't have the growth potential we look for going into the future.

We Really Like Oracle's Dividend

Overall, we think that this is a great income investment, and we think that maintaining the dividend this year may have been a conservative choice. Earnings are easily covering distributions, and the company is generating plenty of cash. Taking this all into consideration, this looks like it could be a good dividend opportunity.

Investors generally tend to favour companies with a consistent, stable dividend policy as opposed to those operating an irregular one. Meanwhile, despite the importance of dividend payments, they are not the only factors our readers should know when assessing a company. For example, we've identified 5 warning signs for Oracle (2 are a bit concerning!) that you should be aware of before investing. 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.