Bank of the James Financial Group (NASDAQ:BOTJ) Is Paying Out A Dividend Of $0.08

Bank of the James Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:BOTJ) has announced that it will pay a dividend of $0.08 per share on the 17th of March. This payment means that the dividend yield will be 2.5%, which is around the industry average.

Check out our latest analysis for Bank of the James Financial Group

Bank of the James Financial Group's Dividend Forecasted To Be Well Covered By Earnings

Solid dividend yields are great, but they only really help us if the payment is sustainable.

Bank of the James Financial Group has established itself as a dividend paying company, given its 9-year history of distributing earnings to shareholders. Using data from its latest earnings report, Bank of the James Financial Group's payout ratio sits at 15%, an extremely comfortable number that shows that it can pay its dividend.

Over the next year, EPS could expand by 26.4% if recent trends continue. If the dividend continues along recent trends, we estimate the future payout ratio will be 13%, which is in the range that makes us comfortable with the sustainability of the dividend.

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Bank of the James Financial Group Is Still Building Its Track Record

Bank of the James Financial Group's dividend has been pretty stable for a little while now, but we will continue to be cautious until it has been demonstrated for a few more years. The annual payment during the last 9 years was $0.182 in 2014, and the most recent fiscal year payment was $0.32. This implies that the company grew its distributions at a yearly rate of about 6.5% over that duration. The dividend has been growing as a reasonable rate, which we like. However, investors will probably want to see a longer track record before they consider Bank of the James Financial Group to be a consistent dividend paying stock.

The Dividend Looks Likely To Grow

The company's investors will be pleased to have been receiving dividend income for some time. It's encouraging to see that Bank of the James Financial Group has been growing its earnings per share at 26% a year over the past five years. Earnings have been growing rapidly, and with a low payout ratio we think that the company could turn out to be a great dividend stock.

We Really Like Bank of the James Financial Group's Dividend

In summary, it is good to see that the dividend is staying consistent, and we don't think there is any reason to suspect this might change over the medium term. Distributions are quite easily covered by earnings, which are also being converted to cash flows. Taking this all into consideration, this looks like it could be a good dividend opportunity.

It's important to note that companies having a consistent dividend policy will generate greater investor confidence than those having an erratic one. Still, investors need to consider a host of other factors, apart from dividend payments, when analysing a company. For example, we've picked out 2 warning signs for Bank of the James Financial Group that investors should know about before committing capital to this stock. If you are a dividend investor, you might also want to look at our curated list of high yield dividend stocks.

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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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