Galliford Try Holdings plc (LON:GFRD) stock is about to trade ex-dividend in 3 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 important as the process of settlement involves two full business days. So if you miss that date, you would not show up on the company's books on the record date. In other words, investors can purchase Galliford Try Holdings' shares before the 10th of November in order to be eligible for the dividend, which will be paid on the 9th of December.

The company's next dividend payment will be UK£0.058 per share, and in the last 12 months, the company paid a total of UK£0.08 per share. Looking at the last 12 months of distributions, Galliford Try Holdings has a trailing yield of approximately 4.9% on its current stock price of £1.638. 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! We need to see whether the dividend is covered by earnings and if it's growing.

View our latest analysis for Galliford Try Holdings

If a company pays out more in dividends than it earned, then the dividend might become unsustainable - hardly an ideal situation. Galliford Try Holdings distributed an unsustainably high 138% of its profit as dividends to shareholders last year. Without more sustainable payment behaviour, the dividend looks precarious. That said, even highly profitable companies sometimes might not generate enough cash to pay the dividend, which is why we should always check if the dividend is covered by cash flow. Thankfully its dividend payments took up just 35% of the free cash flow it generated, which is a comfortable payout ratio.

It's disappointing to see that the dividend was not covered by profits, but cash is more important from a dividend sustainability perspective, and Galliford Try Holdings fortunately did generate enough cash to fund its dividend. Still, if the company repeatedly paid a dividend greater than its profits, we'd be concerned. Very few companies are able to sustainably pay dividends larger than their reported earnings.



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

Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?

Companies with falling earnings are riskier for dividend shareholders. If earnings decline and the company is forced to cut its dividend, investors could watch the value of their investment go up in smoke. Galliford Try Holdings's earnings have collapsed faster than Wile E Coyote's schemes to trap the Road Runner; down a tremendous 37% a year over the past five years.

Many investors will assess a company's dividend performance by evaluating how much the dividend payments have changed over time. Galliford Try Holdings has seen its dividend decline 12% per annum on average over the past 10 years, which is not great to see. It's never nice to see earnings and dividends falling, but at least management has cut the dividend rather than potentially risk the company's health in an attempt to maintain it.

To Sum It Up

From a dividend perspective, should investors buy or avoid Galliford Try Holdings? It's not a great combination to see a company with earnings in decline and paying out 138% of its profits, which could imply the dividend may be at risk of being cut in the future. However, the cash payout ratio was much lower - good news from a dividend perspective - which makes us wonder why there is such a mis-match between income and cashflow. Overall it doesn't look like the most suitable dividend stock for a long-term buy and hold investor.

With that being said, if you're still considering Galliford Try Holdings as an investment, you'll find it beneficial to know what risks this stock is facing. For example - Galliford Try Holdings has 3 warning signs we think you should be aware of.

Generally, we wouldn't recommend just buying the first dividend stock you see. Here's a curated list of interesting stocks that are strong dividend payers.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. 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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