Henderson Land Development Company Limited (HKG:12) has announced that it will pay a dividend of HK$1.30 per share on the 20th of June. The dividend yield will be 8.4% based on this payment which is still above the industry average.
Henderson Land Development's Projected Earnings Seem Likely To Cover Future Distributions
If the payments aren't sustainable, a high yield for a few years won't matter that much. Based on the last payment, Henderson Land Development's profits didn't cover the dividend, but the company was generating enough cash instead. Generally, we think cash is more important than accounting measures of profit, so with the cash flows easily covering the dividend, we don't think there is much reason to worry.
EPS is set to grow by 80.5% over the next year. If recent patterns in the dividend continues, the payout ratio in 12 months could be 83% which is a bit high but can definitely be sustainable.
See our latest analysis for Henderson Land Development
Henderson Land Development Has A Solid Track Record
The company has a sustained record of paying dividends with very little fluctuation. Since 2015, the dividend has gone from HK$0.671 total annually to HK$1.80. This works out to be a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 10% a year over that time. We can see that payments have shown some very nice upward momentum without faltering, which provides some reassurance that future payments will also be reliable.
Dividend Growth Potential Is Shaky
The company's investors will be pleased to have been receiving dividend income for some time. Unfortunately things aren't as good as they seem. Henderson Land Development's EPS has fallen by approximately 18% per year during the past five years. Such rapid declines definitely have the potential to constrain dividend payments if the trend continues into the future. On the bright side, earnings are predicted to gain some ground over the next year, but until this turns into a pattern we wouldn't be feeling too comfortable.
In Summary
Overall, it's nice to see a consistent dividend payment, but we think that longer term, the current level of payment might be unsustainable. The company is generating plenty of cash, but we still think the dividend is a bit high for comfort. We would probably look elsewhere for an income investment.
Investors generally tend to favour companies with a consistent, stable dividend policy as opposed to those operating an irregular one. Meanwhile, despite the importance of dividend payments, they are not the only factors our readers should know when assessing a company. Given that earnings are not growing, the dividend does not look nearly so attractive. Very few businesses see earnings consistently shrink year after year in perpetuity though, and so it might be worth seeing what the 11 analysts we track are forecasting for the future. 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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