Yahoo Finance Be Sure To Check Out The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. (NYSE:HIG) Before It Goes Ex-Dividend
Readers hoping to buy The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. (NYSE:HIG) for its dividend will need to make their move shortly, as the stock is about to trade ex-dividend. Investors can purchase shares before the 30th of August in order to be eligible for this dividend, which will be paid on the 1st of October.
Hartford Financial Services Group's upcoming dividend is US$0.30 a share, following on from the last 12 months, when the company distributed a total of US$1.20 per share to shareholders. Based on the last year's worth of payments, Hartford Financial Services Group stock has a trailing yield of around 2.1% on the current share price of $58.1. If you buy this business for its dividend, you should have an idea of whether Hartford Financial Services 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 Hartford Financial Services Group
Dividends are typically paid from company earnings. If a company pays more in dividends than it earned in profit, then the dividend could be unsustainable. That's why it's good to see Hartford Financial Services Group paying out a modest 27% of its earnings.
When a company paid out less in dividends than it earned in profit, this generally suggests its dividend is affordable. The lower the % of its profit that it pays out, the greater the margin of safety for the dividend if the business enters a downturn.
Click here to see the company's payout ratio, plus analyst estimates of its future dividends.
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. If earnings fall far enough, the company could be forced to cut its dividend. Fortunately for readers, Hartford Financial Services Group's earnings per share have been growing at 11% a year for 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. Hartford Financial Services Group's dividend payments per share have declined at 0.6% per year on average over the past 10 years, which is uninspiring.
To Sum It Up
Is Hartford Financial Services Group worth buying for its dividend? When companies are growing rapidly and retaining a majority of the profits within the business, it's usually a sign that reinvesting earnings creates more value than paying dividends to shareholders. Perhaps even more importantly - this can sometimes signal management is focused on the long term future of the business. Overall, Hartford Financial Services Group looks like a promising dividend stock in this analysis, and we think it would be worth investigating further.
Curious what other investors think of Hartford Financial Services Group? See what analysts are forecasting, with this visualisation of its historical and future estimated earnings and cash flow .
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.
We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.
If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. 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. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
