Regular readers will know that we love our dividends at Simply Wall St, which is why it’s exciting to see National Research Corporation (NASDAQ:NRC) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next 3 days. Investors can purchase shares before the 30th of March in order to be eligible for this dividend, which will be paid on the 15th of April.
National Research’s next dividend payment will be US$0.21 per share, on the back of last year when the company paid a total of US$0.84 to shareholders. Last year’s total dividend payments show that National Research has a trailing yield of 2.0% on the current share price of $41.75. If you buy this business for its dividend, you should have an idea of whether National Research’s dividend is reliable and sustainable. That’s why we should always check whether the dividend payments appear sustainable, and if the company is growing.
View our latest analysis for National Research
If a company pays out more in dividends than it earned, then the dividend might become unsustainable – hardly an ideal situation. National Research is paying out an acceptable 60% of its profit, a common payout level among most companies. 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 52% of its free cash flow as dividends, within the usual range 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 National Research paid out over the last 12 months.
NasdaqGS:NRC Historical Dividend Yield March 26th 2020
Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?
Businesses with strong growth prospects usually make the best dividend payers, because it’s easier to grow dividends when earnings per share are improving. Investors love dividends, so if earnings fall and the dividend is reduced, expect a stock to be sold off heavily at the same time. Fortunately for readers, National Research’s earnings per share have been growing at 12% a year for the past five years. National Research has an average payout ratio which suggests a balance between growing earnings and rewarding shareholders. Given the quick rate of earnings per share growth and current level of payout, there may be a chance of further dividend increases in the future.
The main way most investors will assess a company’s dividend prospects is by checking the historical rate of dividend growth. National Research has seen its dividend decline 10% per annum on average over the past five years, which is not great to see. National Research is a rare case where dividends have been decreasing at the same time as earnings per share have been improving. It’s unusual to see, and could point to unstable conditions in the core business, or more rarely an intensified focus on reinvesting profits.
The Bottom Line
Is National Research an attractive dividend stock, or better left on the shelf? Higher earnings per share generally lead to higher dividends from dividend-paying stocks over the long run. That’s why we’re glad to see National Research’s earnings per share growing, although as we saw, the company is paying out more than half of its earnings and cashflow – 60% and 52% respectively. Overall, it’s hard to get excited about National Research from a dividend perspective.
With that in mind, a critical part of thorough stock research is being aware of any risks that stock currently faces. To help with this, we’ve discovered 2 warning signs for National Research that you should be aware of before investing in their shares.
If you’re in the market for dividend stocks, we recommend checking our list of top dividend stocks with a greater than 2% yield and an upcoming dividend.
If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at [email protected]. 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.
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