Techno Electric & Engineering Company Limited (NSE:TECHNOE) Looks Like A Good Stock, And It’s Going Ex-Dividend Soon

It looks like Techno Electric & Engineering Company Limited (NSE:TECHNOE) is about to go ex-dividend in the next three 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 because any transaction on a stock needs to have been settled before the record date in order to be eligible for a dividend. In other words, investors can purchase Techno Electric & Engineering’s shares before the 15th of September in order to be eligible for the dividend, which will be paid on the 26th of October.

The company’s next dividend payment will be ₹2.00 per share, on the back of last year when the company paid a total of ₹2.00 to shareholders. Based on the last year’s worth of payments, Techno Electric & Engineering stock has a trailing yield of around 0.7% on the current share price of ₹287.4. Dividends are an important source of income to many shareholders, but the health of the business is crucial to maintaining those dividends. We need to see whether the dividend is covered by earnings and if it’s growing.

View our latest analysis for Techno Electric & Engineering

Dividends are typically paid from company earnings. If a company pays more in dividends than it earned in profit, then the dividend could be unsustainable. Techno Electric & Engineering has a low and conservative payout ratio of just 8.7% of its income after tax. 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. Luckily it paid out just 22% of its free cash flow last 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?

Businesses with strong growth prospects usually make the best dividend payers, because it’s easier to grow dividends when earnings per share are improving. Investors love dividends, so if earnings fall and the dividend is reduced, expect a stock to be sold off heavily at the same time. It’s encouraging to see Techno Electric & Engineering has grown its earnings rapidly, up 36% a year for the past five years. Techno Electric & Engineering looks like a real growth company, with earnings per share growing at a cracking pace and the company reinvesting most of its profits in the business.

Many investors will assess a company’s dividend performance by evaluating how much the dividend payments have changed over time. Techno Electric & Engineering’s dividend payments per share have declined at 42% per year on average over the past two years, which is uninspiring. It’s unusual to see earnings per share increasing at the same time as dividends per share have been in decline. We’d hope it’s because the company is reinvesting heavily in its business, but it could also suggest business is lumpy.

Final Takeaway

Should investors buy Techno Electric & Engineering for the upcoming dividend? Techno Electric & Engineering has grown its earnings per share while simultaneously reinvesting in the business. Unfortunately it’s cut the dividend at least once in the past two years, but the conservative payout ratio makes the current dividend look sustainable. It’s a promising combination that should mark this company worthy of closer attention.

So while Techno Electric & Engineering looks good from a dividend perspective, it’s always worthwhile being up to date with the risks involved in this stock. To help with this, we’ve discovered 2 warning signs for Techno Electric & Engineering that you should be aware of before investing in their shares.

If you’re in the market for strong dividend payers, we recommend checking our selection of top dividend stocks.

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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.