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First Commonwealth Financial Corporation (NYSE:FCF) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next 2 days. The ex-dividend date occurs one day before the record date, which is the day on which shareholders need to be on the company's books in order to receive a dividend. The ex-dividend date is an important date to be aware of as any purchase of the stock made on or after this date might mean a late settlement that doesn't show on the record date. Meaning, you will need to purchase First Commonwealth Financial's shares before the 9th of May to receive the dividend, which will be paid on the 23rd of May.
The company's upcoming dividend is US$0.135 a share, following on from the last 12 months, when the company distributed a total of US$0.54 per share to shareholders. Calculating the last year's worth of payments shows that First Commonwealth Financial has a trailing yield of 3.4% on the current share price of US$15.82. If you buy this business for its dividend, you should have an idea of whether First Commonwealth Financial's dividend is reliable and sustainable. We need to see whether the dividend is covered by earnings and if it's growing.
We check all companies for important risks. See what we found for First Commonwealth Financial in our free report.
If a company pays out more in dividends than it earned, then the dividend might become unsustainable - hardly an ideal situation. Fortunately First Commonwealth Financial's payout ratio is modest, at just 39% of profit.
Generally speaking, the lower a company's payout ratios, the more resilient its dividend usually is.
View our latest analysis for First Commonwealth Financial
Click here to see the company's payout ratio, plus analyst estimates of its future dividends.
Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?
Companies with consistently growing earnings per share generally make the best dividend stocks, as they usually find it easier to grow dividends per share. If earnings decline and the company is forced to cut its dividend, investors could watch the value of their investment go up in smoke. With that in mind, we're encouraged by the steady growth at First Commonwealth Financial, with earnings per share up 4.8% on average over the last five years.
Another key way to measure a company's dividend prospects is by measuring its historical rate of dividend growth. In the last 10 years, First Commonwealth Financial has lifted its dividend by approximately 6.8% a year on average. It's encouraging to see the company lifting dividends while earnings are growing, suggesting at least some corporate interest in rewarding shareholders.