Should You Buy Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) For Its Upcoming Dividend In 4 Days?
Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next 4 days. This means that investors who purchase shares on or after the 29th of January will not receive the dividend, which will be paid on the 13th of February.
Sierra Bancorp's next dividend payment will be US$0.20 per share, and in the last 12 months, the company paid a total of US$0.76 per share. Looking at the last 12 months of distributions, Sierra Bancorp has a trailing yield of approximately 2.8% on its current stock price of $28.11. If you buy this business for its dividend, you should have an idea of whether Sierra Bancorp's dividend is reliable and sustainable. So we need to investigate whether Sierra Bancorp can afford its dividend, and if the dividend could grow.
Check out our latest analysis for Sierra Bancorp
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. Sierra Bancorp paid out a comfortable 31% of its profit last year.
Companies that pay out less in dividends than they earn in profits generally have more sustainable dividends. The lower the payout ratio, the more wiggle room the business has before it could be forced to cut the dividend.
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. If earnings decline and the company is forced to cut its dividend, investors could watch the value of their investment go up in smoke. Fortunately for readers, Sierra Bancorp's earnings per share have been growing at 19% a year for the past five years.
Many investors will assess a company's dividend performance by evaluating how much the dividend payments have changed over time. Sierra Bancorp has delivered 7.2% dividend growth per year on average over the past ten years. We're glad to see dividends rising alongside earnings over a number of years, which may be a sign the company intends to share the growth with shareholders.
Final Takeaway
Is Sierra Bancorp an attractive dividend stock, or better left on the shelf? Typically, companies that are growing rapidly and paying out a low fraction of earnings are keeping the profits for reinvestment in the business. This is one of the most attractive investment combinations under this analysis, as it can create substantial value for investors over the long run. Overall, Sierra Bancorp looks like a promising dividend stock in this analysis, and we think it would be worth investigating further.
Curious what other investors think of Sierra Bancorp? 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.
We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Thank you for reading.
