Yahoo Finance Citizens & Northern (NASDAQ:CZNC) Is Paying Out A Dividend Of $0.28
Citizens & Northern Corporation's (NASDAQ:CZNC) investors are due to receive a payment of $0.28 per share on 12th of May. Based on this payment, the dividend yield on the company's stock will be 5.7%, which is an attractive boost to shareholder returns.
Check out our latest analysis for Citizens & Northern
Citizens & Northern's Dividend Forecasted To Be Well Covered By Earnings
We like to see robust dividend yields, but that doesn't matter if the payment isn't sustainable.
Citizens & Northern has established itself as a dividend paying company with over 10 years history of distributing earnings to shareholders. Past distributions do not necessarily guarantee future ones, but Citizens & Northern's payout ratio of 67% is a good sign as this means that earnings decently cover dividends.
Over the next year, EPS is forecast to fall by 1.6%. But assuming the dividend continues along recent trends, we believe the future payout ratio could be 70%, which we are pretty comfortable with and we think would be feasible on an earnings basis.
Citizens & Northern Has A Solid Track Record
The company has been paying a dividend for a long time, and it has been quite stable which gives us confidence in the future dividend potential. The dividend has gone from an annual total of $0.88 in 2013 to the most recent total annual payment of $1.12. This means that it has been growing its distributions at 2.4% per annum over that time. Slow and steady dividend growth might not sound that exciting, but dividends have been stable for ten years, which we think makes this a fairly attractive offer.
The Dividend Has Growth Potential
Some investors will be chomping at the bit to buy some of the company's stock based on its dividend history. Citizens & Northern has seen EPS rising for the last five years, at 7.0% per annum. Shareholders are getting plenty of the earnings returned to them, which combined with strong growth makes this quite appealing.
We Really Like Citizens & Northern's Dividend
In summary, it is good to see that the dividend is staying consistent, and we don't think there is any reason to suspect this might change over the medium term. The earnings easily cover the company's distributions, and the company is generating plenty of cash. However, it is worth noting that the earnings are expected to fall over the next year, which may not change the long term outlook, but could affect the dividend payment in the next 12 months. All in all, this checks a lot of the boxes we look for when choosing an income stock.
It's important to note that companies having a consistent dividend policy will generate greater investor confidence than those having an erratic one. Still, investors need to consider a host of other factors, apart from dividend payments, when analysing a company. For example, we've picked out 1 warning sign for Citizens & Northern that investors should know about before committing capital to this stock. If you are a dividend investor, you might also want to look at our curated list of high yield dividend stocks.
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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. 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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