Readers hoping to buy Mackinac Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:MFNC) for its dividend will need to make their move shortly, as the stock is about to trade ex-dividend. You will need to purchase shares before the 26th of September to receive the dividend, which will be paid on the 8th of October.
Mackinac Financial's upcoming dividend is US$0.1 a share, following on from the last 12 months, when the company distributed a total of US$0.5 per share to shareholders. Last year's total dividend payments show that Mackinac Financial has a trailing yield of 3.0% on the current share price of $15.85. We love seeing companies pay a dividend, but it's also important to be sure that laying the golden eggs isn't going to kill our golden goose! That's why we should always check whether the dividend payments appear sustainable, and if the company is growing.
View our latest analysis for Mackinac Financial
Dividends are typically paid out of company income, so if a company pays out more than it earned, its dividend is usually at a higher risk of being cut. Mackinac Financial paid out a comfortable 39% of its profit last year.
Generally speaking, the lower a company's payout ratios, the more resilient its dividend usually is.
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. Investors love dividends, so if earnings fall and the dividend is reduced, expect a stock to be sold off heavily at the same time. With that in mind, we're encouraged by the steady growth at Mackinac Financial, with earnings per share up 4.1% on average over the last five years.
Many investors will assess a company's dividend performance by evaluating how much the dividend payments have changed over time. Mackinac Financial has delivered an average of 17% per year annual increase in its dividend, based on the past seven years of dividend payments. It's encouraging to see the company lifting dividends while earnings are growing, suggesting at least some corporate interest in rewarding shareholders.
The Bottom Line
Is Mackinac Financial worth buying for its dividend? Mackinac Financial has seen its earnings per share grow slowly in recent years, and the company reinvests more than half of its profits in the business, which generally bodes well for its future prospects. Overall, Mackinac Financial looks like a promising dividend stock in this analysis, and we think it would be worth investigating further.