Yahoo Finance Why You Might Be Interested In Service Corporation International (NYSE:SCI) For Its Upcoming Dividend
It looks like Service Corporation International (NYSE:SCI) is about to go ex-dividend in the next four days. You can purchase shares before the 14th of September in order to receive the dividend, which the company will pay on the 30th of September.
Service Corporation International's next dividend payment will be US$0.19 per share, on the back of last year when the company paid a total of US$0.76 to shareholders. Based on the last year's worth of payments, Service Corporation International stock has a trailing yield of around 1.7% on the current share price of $44.27. If you buy this business for its dividend, you should have an idea of whether Service Corporation International's dividend is reliable and sustainable. We need to see whether the dividend is covered by earnings and if it's growing.
Check out our latest analysis for Service Corporation International
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. That's why it's good to see Service Corporation International paying out a modest 33% of its earnings. 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. Fortunately, it paid out only 27% of its free cash flow in the past year.
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 the company's payout ratio, plus analyst estimates of its future dividends.
Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?
Companies with consistently growing earnings per share generally make the best dividend stocks, as they usually find it easier to grow dividends per share. If earnings fall far enough, the company could be forced to cut its dividend. It's encouraging to see Service Corporation International has grown its earnings rapidly, up 23% a year for the past five years. Earnings per share have been growing very quickly, and the company is paying out a relatively low percentage of its profit and cash flow. This is a very favourable combination that can often lead to the dividend multiplying over the long term, if earnings grow and the company pays out a higher percentage of its earnings.
The main way most investors will assess a company's dividend prospects is by checking the historical rate of dividend growth. Service Corporation International has delivered an average of 17% per year annual increase in its dividend, based on the past 10 years of dividend payments. Both per-share earnings and dividends have both been growing rapidly in recent times, which is great to see.
Final Takeaway
Is Service Corporation International an attractive dividend stock, or better left on the shelf? Service Corporation International has been growing earnings at a rapid rate, and has a conservatively low payout ratio, implying that it is reinvesting heavily in its business; a sterling combination. There's a lot to like about Service Corporation International, and we would prioritise taking a closer look at it.
So while Service Corporation International looks good from a dividend perspective, it's always worthwhile being up to date with the risks involved in this stock. Every company has risks, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for Service Corporation International you should know about.
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.
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.
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