Camden National (NASDAQ:CAC) Will Pay A Larger Dividend Than Last Year At US$0.40

Camden National Corporation’s (NASDAQ:CAC) dividend will be increasing to US$0.40 on 31st of January. This will take the dividend yield to an attractive 3.1%, providing a nice boost to shareholder returns.

See our latest analysis for Camden National

Camden National’s Payment Has Solid Earnings Coverage

Impressive dividend yields are good, but this doesn’t matter much if the payments can’t be sustained. Before making this announcement, Camden National was easily earning enough to cover the dividend. This means that most of its earnings are being retained to grow the business.

Over the next year, EPS is forecast to fall by 11.3%. If the dividend continues along the path it has been on recently, we estimate the payout ratio could be 39%, which is comfortable for the company to continue in the future.

Camden National Has A Solid Track Record

The company has been paying a dividend for a long time, and it has been quite stable which gives us confidence in the future dividend potential. The dividend has gone from US$0.67 in 2011 to the most recent annual payment of US$1.60. This implies that the company grew its distributions at a yearly rate of about 9.1% over that duration. Dividends have grown at a reasonable rate over this period, and without any major cuts in the payment over time, we think this is an attractive combination as it provides a nice boost to shareholder returns.

The Dividend Looks Likely To Grow

Investors who have held shares in the company for the past few years will be happy with the dividend income they have received. Camden National has seen EPS rising for the last five years, at 19% per annum. Growth in EPS bodes well for the dividend, as does the low payout ratio that the company is currently reporting.

Camden National Looks Like A Great Dividend Stock

Overall, we think this could be an attractive income stock, and it is only getting better by paying a higher dividend this year. The distributions are easily covered by earnings, and there is plenty of cash being generated as well. If earnings do fall over the next 12 months, the dividend could be buffeted a little bit, but we don’t think it should cause too much of a problem in the long term. All in all, this checks a lot of the boxes we look for when choosing an income stock.

Investors generally tend to favour companies with a consistent, stable dividend policy as opposed to those operating an irregular one. Meanwhile, despite the importance of dividend payments, they are not the only factors our readers should know when assessing a company. For example, we’ve picked out 1 warning sign for Camden National that investors should know about before committing capital to this stock. Looking for more high-yielding dividend ideas? Try our curated list of strong dividend payers.

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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.