Do These 3 Checks Before Buying Golden Ocean Group Limited (NASDAQ:GOGL) For Its Upcoming Dividend
Regular readers will know that we love our dividends at Simply Wall St, which is why it's exciting to see Golden Ocean Group Limited (NASDAQ:GOGL) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next 4 days. Ex-dividend means that investors that purchase the stock on or after the 5th of March will not receive this dividend, which will be paid on the 19th of March.
Golden Ocean Group's upcoming dividend is US$0.05 a share, following on from the last 12 months, when the company distributed a total of US$0.33 per share to shareholders. Based on the last year's worth of payments, Golden Ocean Group stock has a trailing yield of around 8.0% on the current share price of $4.07. 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! As a result, readers should always check whether Golden Ocean Group has been able to grow its dividends, or if the dividend might be cut.
View our latest analysis for Golden Ocean Group
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. Golden Ocean Group paid out 125% of profit in the past year, which we think is typically not sustainable unless there are mitigating characteristics such as unusually strong cash flow or a large cash balance. Yet cash flows are even more important than profits for assessing a dividend, so we need to see if the company generated enough cash to pay its distribution. Thankfully its dividend payments took up just 41% of the free cash flow it generated, which is a comfortable payout ratio.
It's good to see that while Golden Ocean Group's dividends were not covered by profits, at least they are affordable from a cash perspective. If executives were to continue paying more in dividends than the company reported in profits, we'd view this as a warning sign. Very few companies are able to sustainably pay dividends larger than their reported earnings.
Click here to see the company's payout ratio, plus analyst estimates of its future dividends.
Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?
Companies with falling earnings are riskier for dividend shareholders. Investors love dividends, so if earnings fall and the dividend is reduced, expect a stock to be sold off heavily at the same time. Golden Ocean Group's earnings have collapsed faster than Wile E Coyote's schemes to trap the Road Runner; down a tremendous 30% a year over the past five years.
The main way most investors will assess a company's dividend prospects is by checking the historical rate of dividend growth. Golden Ocean Group's dividend payments per share have declined at 39% per year on average over the past five years, which is uninspiring. While it's not great that earnings and dividends per share have fallen in recent years, we're encouraged by the fact that management has trimmed the dividend rather than risk over-committing the company in a risky attempt to maintain yields to shareholders.
To Sum It Up
Is Golden Ocean Group worth buying for its dividend? It's never great to see earnings per share declining, especially when a company is paying out 125% of its profit as dividends, which we feel is uncomfortably high. Yet cashflow was much stronger, which makes us wonder if there are some large timing issues in Golden Ocean Group's cash flows, or perhaps the company has written down some assets aggressively, reducing its income. Bottom line: Golden Ocean Group has some unfortunate characteristics that we think could lead to sub-optimal outcomes for dividend investors.
Curious what other investors think of Golden Ocean Group? See what analysts are forecasting, with this visualisation of its historical and future estimated earnings and cash flow.
We wouldn't recommend just buying the first dividend stock you see, though. Here's a list of interesting dividend stocks with a greater than 2% yield and an upcoming dividend.
If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned.
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