AhnLab, Inc.'s (KOSDAQ:053800) investors are due to receive a payment of ₩1300.00 per share on 17th of April. The dividend yield will be 2.1% based on this payment which is still above the industry average.
Impressive dividend yields are good, but this doesn't matter much if the payments can't be sustained. However, prior to this announcement, AhnLab's dividend was comfortably covered by both cash flow and earnings. As a result, a large proportion of what it earned was being reinvested back into the business.
Over the next year, EPS could expand by 17.0% if recent trends continue. If the dividend continues on this path, the payout ratio could be 24% by next year, which we think can be pretty sustainable going forward.
Check out our latest analysis for AhnLab
The dividend's track record has been pretty solid, but with only 6 years of history we want to see a few more years of history before making any solid conclusions. The dividend has gone from an annual total of ₩900.00 in 2019 to the most recent total annual payment of ₩1300.00. This works out to be a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 6.3% a year over that time. AhnLab has been growing its dividend at a decent rate, and the payments have been stable. However, the payment history is very short, so there is no evidence yet that the dividend can be sustained over a full economic cycle.
Investors who have held shares in the company for the past few years will be happy with the dividend income they have received. AhnLab has seen EPS rising for the last five years, at 17% per annum. AhnLab definitely has the potential to grow its dividend in the future with earnings on an uptrend and a low payout ratio.
Overall, we like to see the dividend staying consistent, and we think AhnLab might even raise payments in the future. Earnings are easily covering distributions, and the company is generating plenty of cash. Taking this all into consideration, this looks like it could be a good dividend opportunity.
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. Taking the debate a bit further, we've identified 1 warning sign for AhnLab that investors need to be conscious of moving forward. 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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