Just Four Days Till Sonoco Products Company (NYSE:SON) Will Be Trading Ex-Dividend – Yahoo Finance

It looks like Sonoco Products Company (NYSE:SON) is about to go ex-dividend in the next 4 days. You can purchase shares before the 7th of August in order to receive the dividend, which the company will pay on the 10th of September.

Sonoco Products’s next dividend payment will be US$0.43 per share, and in the last 12 months, the company paid a total of US$1.72 per share. Looking at the last 12 months of distributions, Sonoco Products has a trailing yield of approximately 3.3% on its current stock price of $51.74. If you buy this business for its dividend, you should have an idea of whether Sonoco Products’s dividend is reliable and sustainable. As a result, readers should always check whether Sonoco Products has been able to grow its dividends, or if the dividend might be cut.

View our latest analysis for Sonoco Products

Dividends are typically paid out of company income, so if a company pays out more than it earned, its dividend is usually at a higher risk of being cut. Sonoco Products paid out 64% of its earnings to investors last year, a normal payout level for most businesses. Yet cash flow is typically more important than profit for assessing dividend sustainability, so we should always check if the company generated enough cash to afford its dividend. Fortunately, it paid out only 35% of its free cash flow in the past year.

It’s encouraging to see that the dividend is covered by both profit and cash flow. This generally suggests the dividend is sustainable, as long as earnings don’t drop precipitously.

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

Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?

Stocks in companies that generate sustainable earnings growth often make the best dividend prospects, as it is easier to lift the dividend when earnings are rising. If earnings fall far enough, the company could be forced to cut its dividend. This is why it’s a relief to see Sonoco Products earnings per share are up 4.1% per annum over the last five years. Earnings growth has been slim and the company is paying out more than half of its earnings. While there is some room to both increase the payout ratio and reinvest in the business, generally the higher a payout ratio goes, the lower a company’s prospects for future growth.

Another key way to measure a company’s dividend prospects is by measuring its historical rate of dividend growth. Since the start of our data, 10 years ago, Sonoco Products has lifted its dividend by approximately 4.8% a year on average. We’re glad to see dividends rising alongside earnings over a number of years, which may be a sign the company intends to share the growth with shareholders.

To Sum It Up

Has Sonoco Products got what it takes to maintain its dividend payments? Earnings per share growth has been modest and Sonoco Products paid out over half of its profits and less than half of its free cash flow, although both payout ratios are within normal limits. It might be worth researching if the company is reinvesting in growth projects that could grow earnings and dividends in the future, but for now we’re not all that optimistic on its dividend prospects.

While it’s tempting to invest in Sonoco Products for the dividends alone, you should always be mindful of the risks involved. Our analysis shows 1 warning sign for Sonoco Products and you should be aware of this before buying any shares.