The board of Crawford & Company (NYSE:CRD.B) has announced that it will pay a dividend on the 2nd of September, with investors receiving $0.06 per share. This makes the dividend yield 3.5%, which will augment investor returns quite nicely.

See our latest analysis for Crawford

Crawford's Payment Has Solid Earnings Coverage

Impressive dividend yields are good, but this doesn't matter much if the payments can't be sustained. Prior to this announcement, Crawford's dividend was only 42% of earnings, however it was paying out 302% of free cash flows. While the company may be more focused on returning cash to shareholders than growing the business at this time, we think that a cash payout ratio this high might expose the dividend to being cut if the business ran into some challenges.

Looking forward, earnings per share is forecast to rise by 20.5% over the next year. Assuming the dividend continues along recent trends, we think the payout ratio could be 33% by next year, which is in a pretty sustainable range.

Dividend Volatility

The company's dividend history has been marked by instability, with at least one cut in the last 10 years. Since 2012, the annual payment back then was $0.08, compared to the most recent full-year payment of $0.24. This means that it has been growing its distributions at 12% per annum over that time. It is great to see strong growth in the dividend payments, but cuts are concerning as it may indicate the payout policy is too ambitious.

Dividend Growth May Be Hard To Achieve

Growing earnings per share could be a mitigating factor when considering the past fluctuations in the dividend. Unfortunately, Crawford's earnings per share has been essentially flat over the past five years, which means the dividend may not be increased each year.

The Dividend Could Prove To Be Unreliable

Overall, it's nice to see a consistent dividend payment, but we think that longer term, the current level of payment might be unsustainable. While Crawford is earning enough to cover the payments, the cash flows are lacking. This company is not in the top tier of income providing stocks.

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. To that end, Crawford has 3 warning signs (and 1 which can't be ignored) we think you should know about. Is Crawford not quite the opportunity you were looking for? Why not check out our selection of top dividend stocks.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.

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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