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Franklin Financial Services Corporation (NASDAQ:FRAF) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next four days. This means that investors who purchase shares on or after the 6th of August will not receive the dividend, which will be paid on the 26th of August.
Franklin Financial Services's next dividend payment will be US$0.30 per share, on the back of last year when the company paid a total of US$1.20 to shareholders. Based on the last year's worth of payments, Franklin Financial Services has a trailing yield of 5.0% on the current stock price of $24.12. 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.
View our latest analysis for Franklin Financial Services
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. Fortunately Franklin Financial Services's payout ratio is modest, at just 38% of profit.
When a company paid out less in dividends than it earned in profit, this generally suggests its dividend is affordable. The lower the % of its profit that it pays out, the greater the margin of safety for the dividend if the business enters a downturn.
Click here to see how much of its profit Franklin Financial Services paid out over the last 12 months.
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 business enters a downturn and the dividend is cut, the company could see its value fall precipitously. This is why it's a relief to see Franklin Financial Services earnings per share are up 9.4% per annum over the last five years.
The main way most investors will assess a company's dividend prospects is by checking the historical rate of dividend growth. In the last 10 years, Franklin Financial Services has lifted its dividend by approximately 1.1% a year on average.
To Sum It Up
Should investors buy Franklin Financial Services for the upcoming dividend? It has been growing its earnings per share somewhat in recent years, although it reinvests more than half its earnings in the business, which could suggest there are some growth projects that have not yet reached fruition. Franklin Financial Services ticks a lot of boxes for us from a dividend perspective, and we think these characteristics should mark the company as deserving of further attention.