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Readers hoping to buy Asian Hotels (East) Limited (NSE:AHLEAST) for its dividend will need to make their move shortly, as the stock is about to trade ex-dividend. If you purchase the stock on or after the 25th of July, you won't be eligible to receive this dividend, when it is paid on the 4th of September.
Asian Hotels (East)'s next dividend payment will be ₹2.50 per share. Last year, in total, the company distributed ₹2.50 to shareholders. Looking at the last 12 months of distributions, Asian Hotels (East) has a trailing yield of approximately 1.4% on its current stock price of ₹180.05. Dividends are an important source of income to many shareholders, but the health of the business is crucial to maintaining those dividends. So we need to check whether the dividend payments are covered, and if earnings are growing.
See our latest analysis for Asian Hotels (East)
Dividends are typically paid from company earnings. If a company pays more in dividends than it earned in profit, then the dividend could be unsustainable. Its dividend payout ratio is 81% of profit, which means the company is paying out a majority of its earnings. The relatively limited profit reinvestment could slow the rate of future earnings growth We'd be concerned if earnings began to decline. Yet cash flows are even more important than profits for assessing a dividend, so we need to see if the company generated enough cash to pay its distribution. It paid out 9.9% of its free cash flow as dividends last year, which is conservatively low.
It's encouraging to see that the dividend is covered by both profit and cash flow. This generally suggests the dividend is sustainable, as long as earnings don't drop precipitously.
Click here to see how much of its profit Asian Hotels (East) paid out over the last 12 months.
Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?
Businesses with strong growth prospects usually make the best dividend payers, because it's easier to grow dividends when earnings per share are improving. If earnings fall far enough, the company could be forced to cut its dividend. That's why it's comforting to see Asian Hotels (East)'s earnings have been skyrocketing, up 33% per annum for the past five years. Earnings per share are growing at a rapid rate, yet the company is paying out more than three-quarters of its earnings.
Many investors will assess a company's dividend performance by evaluating how much the dividend payments have changed over time. Asian Hotels (East)'s dividend payments per share have declined at 2.0% per year on average over the past 9 years, which is uninspiring. Asian Hotels (East) is a rare case where dividends have been decreasing at the same time as earnings per share have been improving. It's unusual to see, and could point to unstable conditions in the core business, or more rarely an intensified focus on reinvesting profits.