Cranswick's (LON:CWK) Upcoming Dividend Will Be Larger Than Last Year's

Cranswick plc (LON:CWK) has announced that it will be increasing its dividend from last year's comparable payment on the 30th of August to £0.673. This takes the annual payment to 2.1% of the current stock price, which is about average for the industry.

Check out our latest analysis for Cranswick

Cranswick's Dividend Is Well Covered By Earnings

Unless the payments are sustainable, the dividend yield doesn't mean too much. Based on the last payment, Cranswick was quite comfortably earning enough to cover the dividend. This indicates that quite a large proportion of earnings is being invested back into the business.

Looking forward, earnings per share is forecast to rise by 29.8% over the next year. If the dividend continues on this path, the payout ratio could be 37% by next year, which we think can be pretty sustainable going forward.

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Cranswick Has A Solid Track Record

The company has a sustained record of paying dividends with very little fluctuation. Since 2014, the annual payment back then was £0.306, compared to the most recent full-year payment of £0.90. This means that it has been growing its distributions at 11% per annum over that time. So, dividends have been growing pretty quickly, and even more impressively, they haven't experienced any notable falls during this period.

The Dividend Has Growth Potential

Investors could be attracted to the stock based on the quality of its payment history. We are encouraged to see that Cranswick has grown earnings per share at 9.1% per year over the past five years. The company is paying a reasonable amount of earnings to shareholders, and is growing earnings at a decent rate so we think it could be a decent dividend stock.

We Really Like Cranswick's Dividend

Overall, we think this could be an attractive income stock, and it is only getting better by paying a higher dividend this year. The company is easily earning enough to cover its dividend payments and it is great to see that these earnings are being translated into cash flow. All of these factors considered, we think this has solid potential as a dividend stock.

Investors generally tend to favour companies with a consistent, stable dividend policy as opposed to those operating an irregular one. At the same time, there are other factors our readers should be conscious of before pouring capital into a stock. Companies that are growing earnings tend to be the best dividend stocks over the long term. See what the 11 analysts we track are forecasting for Cranswick for free with public analyst estimates for the company. Is Cranswick not quite the opportunity you were looking for? Why not check out our selection of top dividend stocks.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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