Yahoo Finance Chemung Financial's (NASDAQ:CHMG) Shareholders Will Receive A Bigger Dividend Than Last Year
Chemung Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:CHMG) will increase its dividend on the 1st of July to US$0.31. Based on the announced payment, the dividend yield for the company will be 2.4%, which is fairly typical for the industry.
See our latest analysis for Chemung Financial
Chemung Financial's Dividend Is Well Covered By Earnings
We like to see a healthy dividend yield, but that is only helpful to us if the payment can continue. However, prior to this announcement, Chemung Financial's dividend was comfortably covered by both cash flow and earnings. As a result, a large proportion of what it earned was being reinvested back into the business.
EPS is set to fall by 3.0% over the next 12 months. If the dividend continues along recent trends, we estimate the payout ratio could be 23%, which we consider to be quite comfortable, with most of the company's earnings left over to grow the business in the future.
Chemung Financial Has A Solid Track Record
The company has an extended history of paying stable dividends. The first annual payment during the last 10 years was US$1.00 in 2011, and the most recent fiscal year payment was US$1.24. This works out to be a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 2.2% a year over that time. Although we can't deny that the dividend has been remarkably stable in the past, the growth has been pretty muted.
The Dividend Looks Likely To Grow
Some investors will be chomping at the bit to buy some of the company's stock based on its dividend history. It's encouraging to see Chemung Financial has been growing its earnings per share at 19% a year over the past five years. A low payout ratio and decent growth suggests that the company is reinvesting well, and it also has plenty of room to increase the dividend over time.
We Really Like Chemung Financial's Dividend
Overall, a dividend increase is always good, and we think that Chemung Financial is a strong income stock thanks to its track record and growing earnings. The distributions are easily covered by earnings, and there is plenty of cash being generated as well. We should point out that the earnings are expected to fall over the next 12 months, which won't be a problem if this doesn't become a trend, but could cause some turbulence in the next year. Taking this all into consideration, this looks like it could be a good dividend opportunity.
It's important to note that companies having a consistent dividend policy will generate greater investor confidence than those having an erratic one. Meanwhile, despite the importance of dividend payments, they are not the only factors our readers should know when assessing a company. For example, we've identified 2 warning signs for Chemung Financial (1 is significant!) that you should be aware of before investing. We have also put together a list of global stocks with a solid 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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