Regular readers will know that we love our dividends at Simply Wall St, which is why it's exciting to see Kaveri Seed Company Limited (NSE:KSCL) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next 3 days. Ex-dividend means that investors that purchase the stock on or after the 22nd of August will not receive this dividend, which will be paid on the 12th of September.

Kaveri Seed's upcoming dividend is ₹3.00 a share, following on from the last 12 months, when the company distributed a total of ₹3.00 per share to shareholders. Based on the last year's worth of payments, Kaveri Seed stock has a trailing yield of around 0.6% on the current share price of ₹461.5. 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! So we need to check whether the dividend payments are covered, and if earnings are growing.

See our latest analysis for Kaveri Seed

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. Kaveri Seed is paying out just 8.1% of its profit after tax, which is comfortably low and leaves plenty of breathing room in the case of adverse events.

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

Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?

Businesses with strong growth prospects usually make the best dividend payers, because it's easier to grow dividends when earnings per share are improving. If earnings fall far enough, the company could be forced to cut its dividend. This is why it's a relief to see Kaveri Seed earnings per share are up 4.1% per annum over the last five years. Kaveri Seed is retaining more than three-quarters of its earnings and has a history of generating some growth in earnings. We think this is a reasonable combination.

Many investors will assess a company's dividend performance by evaluating how much the dividend payments have changed over time. In the last 10 years, Kaveri Seed has lifted its dividend by approximately 22% a year on average. It's encouraging to see the company lifting dividends while earnings are growing, suggesting at least some corporate interest in rewarding shareholders.

The Bottom Line

From a dividend perspective, should investors buy or avoid Kaveri Seed? Earnings per share growth has been growing somewhat, and Kaveri Seed is paying out less than half its earnings and cash flow as dividends. This is interesting for a few reasons, as it suggests management may be reinvesting heavily in the business, but it also provides room to increase the dividend in time. It might be nice to see earnings growing faster, but Kaveri Seed is being conservative with its dividend payouts and could still perform reasonably over the long run. Kaveri Seed looks solid on this analysis overall, and we'd definitely consider investigating it more closely.

Ever wonder what the future holds for Kaveri Seed? See what the five analysts we track are forecasting, with this visualisation of its historical and future estimated earnings and cash flow

If you're in the market for dividend stocks, we recommend checking our list of top dividend stocks with a greater than 2% yield and an upcoming dividend.

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.

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. Thank you for reading.