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Dividend Investors: Don't Be Too Quick To Buy Pembina Pipeline Corporation (TSE:PPL) For Its Upcoming Dividend

Pembina Pipeline Corporation (TSE:PPL) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next 4 days. The ex-dividend date is one business day before the record date, which is the cut-off date for shareholders to be present on the company's books to be eligible for a dividend payment. It is important to be aware of the ex-dividend date because any trade on the stock needs to have been settled on or before the record date. This means that investors who purchase Pembina Pipeline's shares on or after the 23rd of September will not receive the dividend, which will be paid on the 15th of October.

The company's next dividend payment will be CA$0.21 per share, on the back of last year when the company paid a total of CA$2.52 to shareholders. Based on the last year's worth of payments, Pembina Pipeline stock has a trailing yield of around 6.3% on the current share price of CA$40.08. Dividends are an important source of income to many shareholders, but the health of the business is crucial to maintaining those dividends. We need to see whether the dividend is covered by earnings and if it's growing.

Check out our latest analysis for Pembina Pipeline

Dividends are typically paid out of company income, so if a company pays out more than it earned, its dividend is usually at a higher risk of being cut. Pembina Pipeline lost money last year, so the fact that it's paying a dividend is certainly disconcerting. There might be a good reason for this, but we'd want to look into it further before getting comfortable. With the recent loss, it's important to check if the business generated enough cash to pay its dividend. If cash earnings don't cover the dividend, the company would have to pay dividends out of cash in the bank, or by borrowing money, neither of which is long-term sustainable. It paid out 96% of its free cash flow in the form of dividends last year, which is outside the comfort zone for most businesses. Companies usually need cash more than they need earnings - expenses don't pay themselves - so it's not great to see it paying out so much of its cash flow.

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

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Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?

When earnings decline, dividend companies become much harder to analyse and own safely. Investors love dividends, so if earnings fall and the dividend is reduced, expect a stock to be sold off heavily at the same time. Pembina Pipeline reported a loss last year, and the general trend suggests its earnings have also been declining in recent years, making us wonder if the dividend is at risk.

The main way most investors will assess a company's dividend prospects is by checking the historical rate of dividend growth. Pembina Pipeline has delivered an average of 4.9% per year annual increase in its dividend, based on the past 10 years of dividend payments.

Remember, you can always get a snapshot of Pembina Pipeline's financial health, by checking our visualisation of its financial health, here.

Final Takeaway

From a dividend perspective, should investors buy or avoid Pembina Pipeline? We're a bit uncomfortable with it paying a dividend while being loss-making, especially given that the dividend was not well covered by free cash flow. It's not an attractive combination from a dividend perspective, and we're inclined to pass on this one for the time being.

So if you're still interested in Pembina Pipeline despite it's poor dividend qualities, you should be well informed on some of the risks facing this stock. Be aware that Pembina Pipeline is showing 3 warning signs in our investment analysis, and 2 of those don't sit too well with us...

A common investment mistake is buying the first interesting stock you see. Here you can find a list of promising dividend stocks with a greater than 2% yield and an upcoming dividend.

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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