Parkland Corporation (TSE:PKI) Is About To Go Ex-Dividend, And It Pays A 3.1% Yield
Parkland Corporation (TSE:PKI) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next three days. Typically, the ex-dividend date is one business day before the record date which is the date on which a company determines the shareholders eligible to receive a dividend. The ex-dividend date is of consequence because whenever a stock is bought or sold, the trade takes at least two business day to settle. Therefore, if you purchase Parkland's shares on or after the 20th of May, you won't be eligible to receive the dividend, when it is paid on the 15th of June.
The company's next dividend payment will be CA$0.10 per share, on the back of last year when the company paid a total of CA$1.23 to shareholders. Based on the last year's worth of payments, Parkland stock has a trailing yield of around 3.1% on the current share price of CA$40.28. 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! That's why we should always check whether the dividend payments appear sustainable, and if the company is growing.
See our latest analysis for Parkland
If a company pays out more in dividends than it earned, then the dividend might become unsustainable - hardly an ideal situation. Last year Parkland paid out 95% of its profits as dividends to shareholders, suggesting the dividend is not well covered by earnings. A useful secondary check can be to evaluate whether Parkland generated enough free cash flow to afford its dividend. The good news is it paid out just 21% of its free cash flow in the last year.
It's good to see that while Parkland's dividends were not well covered by profits, at least they are affordable from a cash perspective. Still, if this were to happen repeatedly, we'd be concerned about whether the dividend is sustainable in a downturn.
Click here to see the company's payout ratio, plus analyst estimates of its future dividends.
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 business enters a downturn and the dividend is cut, the company could see its value fall precipitously. It's encouraging to see Parkland has grown its earnings rapidly, up 23% 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. Parkland's dividend payments are broadly unchanged compared to where they were 10 years ago.
Final Takeaway
Is Parkland an attractive dividend stock, or better left on the shelf? Earnings per share have been rising nicely although, even though its cashflow payout ratio is low, we question why Parkland is paying out so much of its profit. While it does have some good things going for it, we're a bit ambivalent and it would take more to convince us of Parkland's dividend merits.
In light of that, while Parkland has an appealing dividend, it's worth knowing the risks involved with this stock. Every company has risks, and we've spotted 2 warning signs for Parkland (of which 1 shouldn't be ignored!) you should know about.
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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