Navient Corporation (NASDAQ:NAVI) Is About To Go Ex-Dividend, And It Pays A 5.7% Yield
Some investors rely on dividends for growing their wealth, and if you're one of those dividend sleuths, you might be intrigued to know that Navient Corporation (NASDAQ:NAVI) is about to go ex-dividend in just 4 days. You will need to purchase shares before the 5th of March to receive the dividend, which will be paid on the 20th of March.
Navient's next dividend payment will be US$0.16 per share, on the back of last year when the company paid a total of US$0.64 to shareholders. Based on the last year's worth of payments, Navient has a trailing yield of 5.7% on the current stock price of $11.25. 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 investigate whether Navient can afford its dividend, and if the dividend could grow.
Check out our latest analysis for Navient
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. Navient paid out just 25% of its profit last year, which we think is conservatively low and leaves plenty of margin for unexpected circumstances.
When a company paid out less in dividends than it earned in profit, this generally suggests its dividend is affordable. The lower the % of its profit that it pays out, the greater the margin of safety for the dividend if the business enters a downturn.
Click here to see the company's payout ratio, plus analyst estimates of its future dividends.
Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?
Stocks with flat earnings can still be attractive dividend payers, but it is important to be more conservative with your approach and demand a greater margin for safety when it comes to dividend sustainability. Investors love dividends, so if earnings fall and the dividend is reduced, expect a stock to be sold off heavily at the same time. With that in mind, we're not enthused to see that Navient's earnings per share have remained effectively flat over the past five years. We'd take that over an earnings decline any day, but in the long run, the best dividend stocks all grow their earnings per share.
The main way most investors will assess a company's dividend prospects is by checking the historical rate of dividend growth. Navient has delivered an average of 5.4% per year annual increase in its dividend, based on the past nine years of dividend payments.
Final Takeaway
Should investors buy Navient for the upcoming dividend? Navient's earnings per share have not grown at all in recent years, although we like that it is paying out a low percentage of its earnings. We're unconvinced on the company's merits, and think there might be better opportunities out there.
Ever wonder what the future holds for Navient? See what the nine analysts we track 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.
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