Yahoo Finance Read This Before Considering Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. (NYSE:RGR) For Its Upcoming US$0.18 Dividend
Regular readers will know that we love our dividends at Simply Wall St, which is why it's exciting to see Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. (NYSE:RGR) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next 4 days. This means that investors who purchase shares on or after the 12th of March will not receive the dividend, which will be paid on the 27th of March.
Sturm Ruger's upcoming dividend is US$0.18 a share, following on from the last 12 months, when the company distributed a total of US$0.72 per share to shareholders. Calculating the last year's worth of payments shows that Sturm Ruger has a trailing yield of 1.5% on the current share price of $46.82. Dividends are an important source of income to many shareholders, but the health of the business is crucial to maintaining those dividends. As a result, readers should always check whether Sturm Ruger has been able to grow its dividends, or if the dividend might be cut.
Check out our latest analysis for Sturm Ruger
If a company pays out more in dividends than it earned, then the dividend might become unsustainable - hardly an ideal situation. Fortunately Sturm Ruger's payout ratio is modest, at just 39% of profit. 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. Thankfully its dividend payments took up just 49% of the free cash flow it generated, which is a comfortable payout ratio.
It's positive to see that Sturm Ruger'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 how much of its profit Sturm Ruger paid out over the last 12 months.
Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?
Companies that aren't growing their earnings can still be valuable, but it is even more important to assess the sustainability of the dividend if it looks like the company will struggle to grow. Investors love dividends, so if earnings fall and the dividend is reduced, expect a stock to be sold off heavily at the same time. It's not encouraging to see that Sturm Ruger's earnings are effectively flat over the past five years. Better than seeing them fall off a cliff, for sure, but the best dividend stocks grow their earnings meaningfully over the long run.
Another key way to measure a company's dividend prospects is by measuring its historical rate of dividend growth. Sturm Ruger has delivered 7.7% dividend growth per year on average over the past ten years.
To Sum It Up
Is Sturm Ruger an attractive dividend stock, or better left on the shelf? Earnings per share have been flat, although at least the company is paying out a low and conservative percentage of both its earnings and cash flow. It's definitely not great to see earnings falling, but at least there may be some buffer before the dividend gets cut. In summary, it's hard to get excited about Sturm Ruger from a dividend perspective.
In light of that, while Sturm Ruger has an appealing dividend, it's worth knowing the risks involved with this stock. Every company has risks, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for Sturm Ruger you should know about.
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.
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.
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. Thank you for reading.
