Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) Has Affirmed Its Dividend Of US$0.32

The board of Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) has announced that it will pay a dividend on the 26th of July, with investors receiving US$0.32 per share. This makes the dividend yield 1.9%, which will augment investor returns quite nicely.

See our latest analysis for Oracle

Oracle's Earnings Easily Cover the Distributions

If the payments aren't sustainable, a high yield for a few years won't matter that much. Based on the last payment, Oracle was quite comfortably earning enough to cover the dividend. This indicates that a lot of the earnings are being reinvested into the business, with the aim of fueling growth.

Looking forward, earnings per share is forecast to rise by 57.7% over the next year. If the dividend continues on this path, the payout ratio could be 36% by next year, which we think can be pretty sustainable going forward.

Oracle Has A Solid Track Record

The company has a sustained record of paying dividends with very little fluctuation. Since 2012, the first annual payment was US$0.24, compared to the most recent full-year payment of US$1.28. This works out to be a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 18% a year over that time. It is good to see that there has been strong dividend growth, and that there haven't been any cuts for a long time.

The Dividend's Growth Prospects Are Limited

The company's investors will be pleased to have been receiving dividend income for some time. However, Oracle's EPS was effectively flat over the past five years, which could stop the company from paying more every year. Growth of 1.9% per annum is not particularly high, which might explain why the company is paying out a higher proportion of earnings. This isn't bad in itself, but unless earnings growth pick up we wouldn't expect dividends to grow either.

Oracle Looks Like A Great Dividend Stock

Overall, we think that this is a great income investment, and we think that maintaining the dividend this year may have been a conservative choice. Distributions are quite easily covered by earnings, which are also being converted to cash flows. All of these factors considered, we think this has solid potential as a dividend stock.

Companies possessing a stable dividend policy will likely enjoy greater investor interest than those suffering from a more inconsistent approach. At the same time, there are other factors our readers should be conscious of before pouring capital into a stock. To that end, Oracle has 5 warning signs (and 2 which are potentially serious) we think you should know about. 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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