DCC plc (LON:DCC) Passed Our Checks, And It's About To Pay A UK£0.52 Dividend

Simply Wall St
·4 min read

Regular readers will know that we love our dividends at Simply Wall St, which is why it's exciting to see DCC plc (LON:DCC) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next 3 days. This means that investors who purchase shares on or after the 19th of November will not receive the dividend, which will be paid on the 9th of December.

DCC's upcoming dividend is UK£0.52 a share, following on from the last 12 months, when the company distributed a total of UK£1.45 per share to shareholders. Looking at the last 12 months of distributions, DCC has a trailing yield of approximately 2.5% on its current stock price of £59. Dividends are an important source of income to many shareholders, but the health of the business is crucial to maintaining those dividends. So we need to check whether the dividend payments are covered, and if earnings are growing.

View our latest analysis for DCC

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. DCC paid out more than half (51%) of its earnings last year, which is a regular payout ratio for most companies. That said, even highly profitable companies sometimes might not generate enough cash to pay the dividend, which is why we should always check if the dividend is covered by cash flow. Thankfully its dividend payments took up just 32% of the free cash flow it generated, which is a comfortable payout ratio.

It's encouraging to see that the dividend is covered by both profit and cash flow. This generally suggests the dividend is sustainable, as long as earnings don't drop precipitously.

Click here to see the company's payout ratio, plus analyst estimates of its future dividends.

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historic-dividend

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 fall far enough, the company could be forced to cut its dividend. For this reason, we're glad to see DCC's earnings per share have risen 14% per annum over the last five years. DCC is paying out a bit over half its earnings, which suggests the company is striking a balance between reinvesting in growth, and paying dividends. Given the quick rate of earnings per share growth and current level of payout, there may be a chance of further dividend increases in the future.

Another key way to measure a company's dividend prospects is by measuring its historical rate of dividend growth. In the past 10 years, DCC has increased its dividend at approximately 9.7% a year on average. 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.

To Sum It Up

Should investors buy DCC for the upcoming dividend? DCC's growing earnings per share and conservative payout ratios make for a decent combination. We also like that it paid out a lower percentage of its cash flow. Overall we think this is an attractive combination and worthy of further research.

So while DCC looks good from a dividend perspective, it's always worthwhile being up to date with the risks involved in this stock. For example - DCC has 1 warning sign we think you should be aware of.

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.

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. 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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