Lakeland Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:LKFN) Looks Like A Good Stock, And It's Going Ex-Dividend Soon

Simply Wall St
·3 min read

Lakeland Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:LKFN) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next four days. You will need to purchase shares before the 22nd of April to receive the dividend, which will be paid on the 5th of May.

Lakeland Financial's next dividend payment will be US$0.34 per share, on the back of last year when the company paid a total of US$1.36 to shareholders. Calculating the last year's worth of payments shows that Lakeland Financial has a trailing yield of 2.0% on the current share price of $69.64. If you buy this business for its dividend, you should have an idea of whether Lakeland Financial's dividend is reliable and sustainable. As a result, readers should always check whether Lakeland Financial has been able to grow its dividends, or if the dividend might be cut.

Check out our latest analysis for Lakeland Financial

Dividends are usually paid out of company profits, so if a company pays out more than it earned then its dividend is usually at greater risk of being cut. Fortunately Lakeland Financial's payout ratio is modest, at just 37% of profit.

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.

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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. Fortunately for readers, Lakeland Financial's earnings per share have been growing at 12% 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. Lakeland Financial has delivered 13% dividend growth per year on average over the past 10 years. Both per-share earnings and dividends have both been growing rapidly in recent times, which is great to see.

To Sum It Up

Is Lakeland Financial worth buying for its dividend? Companies like Lakeland Financial that are growing rapidly and paying out a low fraction of earnings, are usually reinvesting heavily in their 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, Lakeland Financial looks like a promising dividend stock in this analysis, and we think it would be worth investigating further.

So while Lakeland Financial looks good from a dividend perspective, it's always worthwhile being up to date with the risks involved in this stock. Our analysis shows 1 warning sign for Lakeland Financial and you should be aware of it before buying any shares.

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.

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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