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Marathon Oil Corporation (NYSE:MRO) Will Pay A 0.4% Dividend In 4 Days

Marathon Oil Corporation (NYSE:MRO) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next 4 days. This means that investors who purchase shares on or after the 20th of August will not receive the dividend, which will be paid on the 10th of September.

Marathon Oil's next dividend payment will be US$0.05 per share, on the back of last year when the company paid a total of US$0.20 to shareholders. Last year's total dividend payments show that Marathon Oil has a trailing yield of 1.6% on the current share price of $12.3. Dividends are an important source of income to many shareholders, but the health of the business is crucial to maintaining those dividends. That's why we should always check whether the dividend payments appear sustainable, and if the company is growing.

See our latest analysis for Marathon Oil

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If a company pays out more in dividends than it earned, then the dividend might become unsustainable - hardly an ideal situation. Marathon Oil paid out just 17% of its profit last year, which we think is conservatively low and leaves plenty of margin for unexpected circumstances. A useful secondary check can be to evaluate whether Marathon Oil generated enough free cash flow to afford its dividend. It distributed 40% of its free cash flow as dividends, a comfortable payout level for most companies.

It's positive to see that Marathon Oil's dividend is covered by both profits and cash flow, since this is generally a sign that the dividend is sustainable, and a lower payout ratio usually suggests a greater margin of safety before the dividend gets cut.

Click here to see the company's payout ratio, plus analyst estimates of its future dividends.

NYSE:MRO Historical Dividend Yield, August 15th 2019
NYSE:MRO Historical Dividend Yield, August 15th 2019

Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?

Companies with falling earnings are riskier for dividend shareholders. If business enters a downturn and the dividend is cut, the company could see its value fall precipitously. So we're not too excited that Marathon Oil's earnings are down 2.2% a year over the past five years.

Many investors will assess a company's dividend performance by evaluating how much the dividend payments have changed over time. Marathon Oil's dividend payments per share have declined at 15% per year on average over the past 10 years, which is uninspiring. While it's not great that earnings and dividends per share have fallen in recent years, we're encouraged by the fact that management has trimmed the dividend rather than risk over-committing the company in a risky attempt to maintain yields to shareholders.

The Bottom Line

Is Marathon Oil worth buying for its dividend? Marathon Oil has comfortably low cash and profit payout ratios, which may mean the dividend is sustainable even in the face of a sharp decline in earnings per share. Still, we consider declining earnings to be a warning sign. Overall, it's not a bad combination, but we feel that there are likely more attractive dividend prospects out there.

Ever wonder what the future holds for Marathon Oil? See what the 16 analysts we track are forecasting, with this visualisation of its historical and future estimated earnings and cash flow

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.

We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.

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.