Yahoo Finance We Wouldn't Be Too Quick To Buy Omega Healthcare Investors, Inc. (NYSE:OHI) Before It Goes Ex-Dividend
Omega Healthcare Investors, Inc. (NYSE:OHI) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next 4 days. You will need to purchase shares before the 30th of July to receive the dividend, which will be paid on the 15th of August.
Omega Healthcare Investors's next dividend payment will be US$0.66 per share. Last year, in total, the company distributed US$2.64 to shareholders. Last year's total dividend payments show that Omega Healthcare Investors has a trailing yield of 7.2% on the current share price of $36.84. If you buy this business for its dividend, you should have an idea of whether Omega Healthcare Investors's dividend is reliable and sustainable. We need to see whether the dividend is covered by earnings and if it's growing.
See our latest analysis for Omega Healthcare Investors
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. Its dividend payout ratio is 91% of profit, which means the company is paying out a majority of its earnings. The relatively limited profit reinvestment could slow the rate of future earnings growth It could become a concern if earnings started to decline. While Omega Healthcare Investors seems to be paying out a very high percentage of its income, REITs have different dividend payment behaviour and so, while we don't think this is great, we also don't think it is unusual. 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. Over the last year, it paid out more than three-quarters (96%) of its free cash flow generated, which is fairly high and may be starting to limit reinvestment in the business.
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?
Businesses with shrinking earnings are tricky from a dividend perspective. If earnings fall far enough, the company could be forced to cut its dividend. So we're not too excited that Omega Healthcare Investors's earnings are down 2.1% a year over 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. In the past 10 years, Omega Healthcare Investors has increased its dividend at approximately 8.2% a year on average. That's intriguing, but the combination of growing dividends despite declining earnings can typically only be achieved by paying out a larger percentage of profits. Omega Healthcare Investors is already paying out 91% of its profits, and with shrinking earnings we think it's unlikely that this dividend will grow quickly in the future.
Final Takeaway
Is Omega Healthcare Investors worth buying for its dividend? It's never good to see earnings per share shrinking, but at least the dividend payout ratios appear reasonable. We're aware though that if earnings continue to decline, the dividend could be at risk. Bottom line: Omega Healthcare Investors has some unfortunate characteristics that we think could lead to sub-optimal outcomes for dividend investors.
Wondering what the future holds for Omega Healthcare Investors? See what the five analysts we track are forecasting, with this visualisation of its historical and future estimated earnings and cash flow
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.
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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.
