Regular readers will know that we love our dividends at Simply Wall St, which is why it's exciting to see United Overseas Insurance Limited (SGX:U13) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next 3 days. The ex-dividend date is usually set to be one business day before the record date which is the cut-off date on which you must be present on the company's books as a shareholder in order to receive the 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 United Overseas Insurance's shares before the 4th of August in order to be eligible for the dividend, which will be paid on the 18th of August.
The company's next dividend payment will be S$0.085 per share. Last year, in total, the company distributed S$0.25 to shareholders. Calculating the last year's worth of payments shows that United Overseas Insurance has a trailing yield of 3.7% on the current share price of SGD6.69. Dividends are a major contributor to investment returns for long term holders, but only if the dividend continues to be paid. As a result, readers should always check whether United Overseas Insurance has been able to grow its dividends, or if the dividend might be cut.
View our latest analysis for United Overseas Insurance
Dividends are usually paid out of company profits, so if a company pays out more than it earned then its dividend is usually at greater risk of being cut. United Overseas Insurance paid out 53% of its earnings to investors last year, a normal payout level for most businesses.
When a company paid out less in dividends than it earned in profit, this generally suggests its dividend is affordable. The lower the % of its profit that it pays out, the greater the margin of safety for the dividend if the business enters a downturn.
Click here to see how much of its profit United Overseas Insurance paid out over the last 12 months.
SGX:U13 Historic Dividend July 31st 2022
Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?
When earnings decline, dividend companies become much harder to analyse and own safely. If earnings decline and the company is forced to cut its dividend, investors could watch the value of their investment go up in smoke. So we're not too excited that United Overseas Insurance's earnings are down 3.2% a year over the past five years.
The main way most investors will assess a company's dividend prospects is by checking the historical rate of dividend growth. In the past 10 years, United Overseas Insurance has increased its dividend at approximately 5.2% a year on average. Growing the dividend payout ratio while earnings are declining can deliver nice returns for a while, but it's always worth checking for when the company can't increase the payout ratio any more - because then the music stops.
Final Takeaway
From a dividend perspective, should investors buy or avoid United Overseas Insurance? Earnings per share have been declining and the company is paying out more than half its profits to shareholders; not an enticing combination. This is not an overtly appealing combination of characteristics, and we're just not that interested in this company's dividend.
Although, if you're still interested in United Overseas Insurance and want to know more, you'll find it very useful to know what risks this stock faces. To help with this, we've discovered 3 warning signs for United Overseas Insurance (2 are a bit concerning!) that you ought to be aware of before buying the shares.
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.
Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.
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.
老讀者會知道我們喜歡Simply Wall St.的紅利，這就是為什麼看到大華保險有限公司(新加坡證券交易所股票代碼：U13)即將在未來3天內進行除股息交易。除息日期通常被設定為記錄日期之前的一個工作日，也就是你必須作為股東出現在公司賬簿上才能獲得股息的截止日期。除息日期很重要，因為結算過程需要整整兩個工作日。因此，如果你錯過了那個日期的預期，你就不會在記錄日期出現在公司的賬簿上。換句話説，投資者可以在8月4日之前購買大華保險的股票，才有資格獲得股息，股息將在8月18日支付。
該公司的下一次股息支付將是每股0.085新元。去年，該公司總共向股東分配了0.25新元。計算去年的支付金額顯示，大華保險的往績收益率為3.7%，目前的股價為6.69新元。股息是長期持有者投資回報的主要貢獻者，但前提是繼續支付股息。因此，讀者應該隨時查看大華保險是否能夠增加股息，或者股息是否可能被削減。
查看我們對大華保險的最新分析
股息通常從公司利潤中支付，因此，如果一家公司支付的股息超過了它的收入，那麼它的股息通常被削減的風險更大。大華保險去年向投資者支付了53%的收益，這是大多數企業的正常支付水平。
當一家公司支付的股息低於其利潤時，這通常表明它的股息是負擔得起的。它支付的利潤的百分比越低，如果業務進入低迷，股息的安全邊際就越大。
單擊此處查看大華保險在過去12個月中支付了多少利潤。
新交所：U13歷史性股息2022年7月31日
盈利和股息一直在增長嗎？
當收益下降時，股利公司就更難分析和安全持有了。如果收益下降，該公司被迫削減股息，投資者可能會眼睜睜地看着他們的投資價值化為烏有。因此，我們對大華保險的收益在過去五年裏每年下降3.2%並不是太興奮。
大多數投資者評估一家公司的股息前景的主要方式是檢查歷史上的股息增長率。在過去10年中，大華保險的股息平均每年增加約5.2%。在收益下降的同時提高股息支付率可以在一段時間內帶來不錯的回報，但當公司無法再提高支付率時，總是值得檢查的--因為那時音樂就會停止。
最終外賣
從分紅角度來看，投資者應該買入還是避免買入大華保險？每股收益一直在下降，該公司將一半以上的利潤支付給股東；這並不是一個誘人的組合。這並不是一個公開的吸引人的特徵組合，我們只是對這家公司的紅利不太感興趣。
然而，如果你仍然對大華保險感興趣，並想知道更多，你會發現知道這隻股票面臨什麼風險是非常有用的。為了幫助解決這個問題，我們發現大華保險的3個警示標誌(兩個有點令人擔憂！)在購買股票之前，你應該意識到這一點。
一般來説，我們不會建議只購買你看到的第一批股息股票。這是這是一份精心挑選的股息支付強勁的有趣股票的名單。
對這篇文章有什麼反饋嗎？擔心內容嗎？ 保持聯繫直接與我們聯繫。或者，也可以給編輯組發電子郵件，地址是implywallst.com。
本文由Simply Wall St.撰寫，具有概括性。我們僅使用不偏不倚的方法提供基於歷史數據和分析師預測的評論，我們的文章並不打算作為財務建議。它不構成買賣任何股票的建議，也沒有考慮你的目標或你的財務狀況。我們的目標是為您帶來由基本面數據驅動的長期重點分析。請注意，我們的分析可能不會將最新的對價格敏感的公司公告或定性材料考慮在內。Simply Wall St.對上述任何一隻股票都沒有持倉。
