OCBC plans to increase the dividend on its shares

Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Limited (SGX:O39) has announced that it will be increasing its dividend on the 20th of May to S$0.28. This makes the dividend yield about the same as the industry average at 4.3%.

Oversea-Chinese Banking's Earnings Easily Cover the Distributions

While it is always good to see a solid dividend yield, we should also consider whether the payment is feasible. Before making this announcement, Oversea-Chinese Banking was earning enough to cover the dividend, but it wasn't generating any free cash flows. No cash flows could definitely make returning cash to shareholders difficult, or at least mean the balance sheet will come under pressure.

Looking forward, earnings per share is forecast to rise by 12.4% over the next year. Assuming the dividend continues along recent trends, we think the payout ratio could be 46% by next year, which is in a pretty sustainable range.

SGX:O39 Historic Dividend March 24th 2022

Dividend Volatility

The company's dividend history has been marked by instability, with at least 1 cut in the last 10 years. The first annual payment during the last 10 years was S$0.30 in 2012, and the most recent fiscal year payment was S$0.56. This works out to be a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 6.4% a year over that time. A reasonable rate of dividend growth is good to see, but we're wary that the dividend history is not as solid as we'd like, having been cut at least once.

Oversea-Chinese Banking Could Grow Its Dividend

With a relatively unstable dividend, it's even more important to evaluate if earnings per share is growing, which could point to a growing dividend in the future. We are encouraged to see that Oversea-Chinese Banking has grown earnings per share at 5.6% per year over the past five years. The company is paying out a lot of its cash as a dividend, but it looks okay based on the payout ratio.

Our Thoughts On Oversea-Chinese Banking's Dividend

In summary, while it's always good to see the dividend being raised, we don't think Oversea-Chinese Banking's payments are rock solid. With cash flows lacking, it is difficult to see how the company can sustain a dividend payment. We would be a touch cautious of relying on this stock primarily for the dividend income.$OVERSEA-CHINESE BANKING CORP(O39.SI)$

source：Simply Wall St