Investors who want to cash in on LaSalle Hotel Properties’s (NYSE:LHO) upcoming dividend of $0.45 per share have only 3 days left to buy the shares before its ex-dividend date, 28 December 2017, in time for dividends payable on the 16 January 2018. What does this mean for current shareholders and potential investors? Below, I will explain how holding LaSalle Hotel Properties can impact your portfolio income stream, by analysing the stock’s most recent financial data and dividend attributes. Check out our latest analysis for LaSalle Hotel Properties
Here’s how I find good dividend stocks
If you are a dividend investor, you should always assess these five key metrics:
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Does it pay an annual yield higher than 75% of dividend payers?
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Has it consistently paid a stable dividend without missing a payment or drastically cutting payout?
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Has it increased its dividend per share amount over the past?
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Is its earnings sufficient to payout dividend at the current rate?
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Will it be able to continue to payout at the current rate in the future?
How well does LaSalle Hotel Properties fit our criteria?
The company currently pays out 110.71% of its earnings as a dividend, which means that the dividend is not well-covered by its earnings. Furthermore, analysts have not forecasted a dividends per share for the future, which makes it hard to determine the yield shareholders should expect, and whether the current payout is sustainable, moving forward. If dividend is a key criteria in your investment consideration, then you need to make sure the dividend stock you’re eyeing out is reliable in its payments. Not only have dividend payouts from LaSalle Hotel Properties fallen over the past 10 years, it has also been highly volatile during this time, with drops of over 25% in some years. These characteristics do not bode well for income investors seeking reliable stream of dividends. In terms of its peers, LaSalle Hotel Properties has a yield of 6.33%, which is high for reits stocks.
What this means for you:
Are you a shareholder? Investors may not have the best feeling about their investment in LaSalle Hotel Properties right now, in terms of its dividend attributes. It may be valuable exploring other dividend stocks as alternatives to LaSalle Hotel Properties or even look at high-growth stocks to supplement your steady income stocks. I encourage you to continue your research by taking a look at my interactive free list of dividend rockstars as well as high-growth stocks to potentially add to your holdings.
Are you a potential investor? After digging a little deeper into LaSalle Hotel Properties’s yield, it’s easy to see why you should be cautious investing in the company just for the dividend. But if you are not exclusively a dividend investor, the stock could still be an interesting investment opportunity. As with all investments, you should always research extensively before deciding whether or not a stock is an appropriate investment for you. I always recommend analysing the company’s fundamentals and underlying business before making an investment decision. Dig deeper in our latest free fundmental analysis to explore other aspects of LaSalle Hotel Properties.
To help readers see pass the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price sensitive company announcements.
The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned.