Yahoo Finance Is It Smart To Buy NewMarket Corporation (NYSE:NEU) Before It Goes Ex-Dividend?
Regular readers will know that we love our dividends at Simply Wall St, which is why it's exciting to see NewMarket Corporation (NYSE:NEU) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next four days. This means that investors who purchase shares on or after the 14th of December will not receive the dividend, which will be paid on the 4th of January.
NewMarket's next dividend payment will be US$1.90 per share, and in the last 12 months, the company paid a total of US$7.60 per share. Based on the last year's worth of payments, NewMarket has a trailing yield of 2.0% on the current stock price of $386.63. Dividends are an important source of income to many shareholders, but the health of the business is crucial to maintaining those dividends. So we need to check whether the dividend payments are covered, and if earnings are growing.
View our latest analysis for NewMarket
Dividends are usually paid out of company profits, so if a company pays out more than it earned then its dividend is usually at greater risk of being cut. Fortunately NewMarket's payout ratio is modest, at just 33% of profit. Yet cash flow is typically more important than profit for assessing dividend sustainability, so we should always check if the company generated enough cash to afford its dividend. It distributed 35% of its free cash flow as dividends, a comfortable payout level for most companies.
It's encouraging to see that the dividend is covered by both profit and cash flow. This generally suggests the dividend is sustainable, as long as earnings don't drop precipitously.
Click here to see how much of its profit NewMarket paid out over the last 12 months.
Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?
Stocks in companies that generate sustainable earnings growth often make the best dividend prospects, as it is easier to lift the dividend when earnings are rising. Investors love dividends, so if earnings fall and the dividend is reduced, expect a stock to be sold off heavily at the same time. With that in mind, we're encouraged by the steady growth at NewMarket, with earnings per share up 4.6% on average over the last five years. Recent earnings growth has been limited. Yet there are several ways to grow the dividend, and one of them is simply that the company may choose to pay out more of its earnings as dividends.
The main way most investors will assess a company's dividend prospects is by checking the historical rate of dividend growth. Since the start of our data, 10 years ago, NewMarket has lifted its dividend by approximately 18% a year on average. We're glad to see dividends rising alongside earnings over a number of years, which may be a sign the company intends to share the growth with shareholders.
To Sum It Up
Is NewMarket an attractive dividend stock, or better left on the shelf? Earnings per share growth has been growing somewhat, and NewMarket is paying out less than half its earnings and cash flow as dividends. This is interesting for a few reasons, as it suggests management may be reinvesting heavily in the business, but it also provides room to increase the dividend in time. We would prefer to see earnings growing faster, but the best dividend stocks over the long term typically combine significant earnings per share growth with a low payout ratio, and NewMarket is halfway there. NewMarket looks solid on this analysis overall, and we'd definitely consider investigating it more closely.
On that note, you'll want to research what risks NewMarket is facing. For example - NewMarket has 1 warning sign we think you should be aware of.
We wouldn't recommend just buying the first dividend stock you see, though. Here's a list of interesting dividend stocks with a greater than 2% yield and an upcoming dividend.
This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. 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.
Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com.
