There's A Lot To Like About The Charles Schwab Corporation's (NYSE:SCHW) Upcoming US$0.18 Dividend

The Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE:SCHW) stock is about to trade ex-dividend in 4 days time. Investors can purchase shares before the 13th of February in order to be eligible for this dividend, which will be paid on the 28th of February.

Charles Schwab's upcoming dividend is US$0.18 a share, following on from the last 12 months, when the company distributed a total of US$0.72 per share to shareholders. Looking at the last 12 months of distributions, Charles Schwab has a trailing yield of approximately 1.5% on its current stock price of $47.31. Dividends are a major contributor to investment returns for long term holders, but only if the dividend continues to be paid. That's why we should always check whether the dividend payments appear sustainable, and if the company is growing.

Check out our latest analysis for Charles Schwab

If a company pays out more in dividends than it earned, then the dividend might become unsustainable - hardly an ideal situation. Fortunately Charles Schwab's payout ratio is modest, at just 25% of profit.

Generally speaking, the lower a company's payout ratios, the more resilient its dividend usually is.

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

Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?

Businesses with strong growth prospects usually make the best dividend payers, because it's easier to grow dividends when earnings per share are improving. If earnings fall far enough, the company could be forced to cut its dividend. It's encouraging to see Charles Schwab has grown its earnings rapidly, up 23% a year for the past five years.

Many investors will assess a company's dividend performance by evaluating how much the dividend payments have changed over time. Since the start of our data, ten years ago, Charles Schwab has lifted its dividend by approximately 12% a year on average. It's great to see earnings per share growing rapidly over several years, and dividends per share growing right along with it.

The Bottom Line

Is Charles Schwab worth buying for its dividend? Companies like Charles Schwab that are growing rapidly and paying out a low fraction of earnings, are usually reinvesting heavily in their business. Perhaps even more importantly - this can sometimes signal management is focused on the long term future of the business. We think this is a pretty attractive combination, and would be interested in investigating Charles Schwab more closely.

Wondering what the future holds for Charles Schwab? See what the 15 analysts we track are forecasting, with this visualisation of its historical and future estimated earnings and cash flow

We wouldn't recommend just buying the first dividend stock you see, though. Here's a list of interesting dividend stocks with a greater than 2% yield and an upcoming dividend.

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.

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