Kimberly-Clark Corporation (NYSE:KMB) will increase its dividend on the 4th of April to US$1.16. This will take the dividend yield to an attractive 3.3%, providing a nice boost to shareholder returns.
Kimberly-Clark's Dividend Is Well Covered By Earnings
If the payments aren't sustainable, a high yield for a few years won't matter that much. Prior to this announcement, Kimberly-Clark was paying out 85% of earnings and more than 75% of free cash flows. This is usually an indication that the focus of the company is returning cash to shareholders rather than reinvesting it for growth.
Over the next year, EPS is forecast to expand by 12.7%. If the dividend continues growing along recent trends, we estimate the payout ratio could reach 78%, which is on the higher side, but certainly still feasible.
Kimberly-Clark Has A Solid Track Record
Even over a long history of paying dividends, the company's distributions have been remarkably stable. The dividend has gone from US$2.80 in 2012 to the most recent annual payment of US$4.64. This works out to be a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 5.2% a year over that time. The dividend has been growing very nicely for a number of years, and has given its shareholders some nice income in their portfolios.
Dividend Growth May Be Hard To Achieve
Investors who have held shares in the company for the past few years will be happy with the dividend income they have received. Unfortunately things aren't as good as they seem. It's not great to see that Kimberly-Clark's earnings per share has fallen at approximately 2.2% per year over the past five years. If earnings continue declining, the company may have to make the difficult choice of reducing the dividend or even stopping it completely - the opposite of dividend growth. It's not all bad news though, as the earnings are predicted to rise over the next 12 months - we would just be a bit cautious until this can turn into a longer term trend.
In Summary
Overall, we always like to see the dividend being raised, but we don't think Kimberly-Clark will make a great income stock. Although they have been consistent in the past, we think the payments are a little high to be sustained. We would be a touch cautious of relying on this stock primarily for the dividend income.
Companies possessing a stable dividend policy will likely enjoy greater investor interest than those suffering from a more inconsistent approach. Meanwhile, despite the importance of dividend payments, they are not the only factors our readers should know when assessing a company. As an example, we've identified 1 warning sign for Kimberly-Clark that you should be aware of before investing. Looking for more high-yielding dividend ideas? Try our curated list of strong dividend payers.
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