Dividend paying stocks like Highland Gold Mining Limited (LON:HGM) tend to be popular with investors, and for good reason - some research suggests a significant amount of all stock market returns come from reinvested dividends. If you are hoping to live on the income from dividends, it's important to be a lot more stringent with your investments than the average punter.
With a eight-year payment history and a 5.8% yield, many investors probably find Highland Gold Mining intriguing. We'd agree the yield does look enticing. Some simple analysis can reduce the risk of holding Highland Gold Mining for its dividend, and we'll focus on the most important aspects below.
Explore this interactive chart for our latest analysis on Highland Gold Mining!
Payout ratios
Dividends are typically paid from company earnings. If a company pays more in dividends than it earned, then the dividend might become unsustainable - hardly an ideal situation. So we need to form a view on if a company's dividend is sustainable, relative to its net profit after tax. Highland Gold Mining paid out 82% of its profit as dividends, over the trailing twelve month period. Paying out a majority of its earnings limits the amount that can be reinvested in the business. This may indicate a commitment to paying a dividend, or a dearth of investment opportunities.
In addition to comparing dividends against profits, we should inspect whether the company generated enough cash to pay its dividend. With a cash payout ratio of 93%, Highland Gold Mining's dividend payments are poorly covered by cash flow. Highland Gold Mining paid out less in dividends than it reported in profits, but unfortunately it didn't generate enough free cash flow to cover the dividend. Cash is king, as they say, and were Highland Gold Mining to repeatedly pay dividends that aren't well covered by cashflow, we would consider this a warning sign.
Remember, you can always get a snapshot of Highland Gold Mining's latest financial position, by checking our visualisation of its financial health.
Dividend Volatility
From the perspective of an income investor who wants to earn dividends for many years, there is not much point buying a stock if its dividend is regularly cut or is not reliable. The first recorded dividend for Highland Gold Mining, in the last decade, was eight years ago. Although it has been paying a dividend for several years now, the dividend has been cut at least once, and we're cautious about the consistency of its dividend across a full economic cycle. During the past eight-year period, the first annual payment was US$0.05 in 2012, compared to US$0.16 last year. Dividends per share have grown at approximately 16% per year over this time. The dividends haven't grown at precisely 16% every year, but this is a useful way to average out the historical rate of growth.
Highland Gold Mining has grown distributions at a rapid rate despite cutting the dividend at least once in the past. Companies that cut once often cut again, but it might be worth considering if the business has turned a corner.
Dividend Growth Potential
Given that the dividend has been cut in the past, we need to check if earnings are growing and if that might lead to stronger dividends in the future. Highland Gold Mining has grown its earnings per share at 2.6% per annum over the past five years. Earnings are not growing quickly at all, and the company is paying out most of its profit as dividends. When the rate of return on reinvestment opportunities falls below a certain minimum level, companies often elect to pay a larger dividend instead. This is why many mature companies often have larger dividend yields.
Conclusion
Dividend investors should always want to know if a) a company's dividends are affordable, b) if there is a track record of consistent payments, and c) if the dividend is capable of growing. Highland Gold Mining gets a pass on its dividend payout ratio, but it paid out virtually all of its cash flow as dividends. This may just be a one-off, but we'd keep an eye on this. Second, earnings growth has been ordinary, and its history of dividend payments is chequered - having cut its dividend at least once in the past. With this information in mind, we think Highland Gold Mining may not be an ideal dividend stock.
Earnings growth generally bodes well for the future value of company dividend payments. See if the 3 Highland Gold Mining analysts we track are forecasting continued growth with our free report on analyst estimates for the company.
If you are a dividend investor, you might also want to look at our curated list of dividend stocks yielding above 3%.
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.
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. Thank you for reading.
"mining" - Google News
February 03, 2020 at 01:10PM
https://ift.tt/3b5TaCK
Could Highland Gold Mining Limited (LON:HGM) Have The Makings Of Another Dividend Aristocrat? - Yahoo Finance
"mining" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2PtPKA2
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
0 Comments:
Post a Comment