Tootsie Roll Industries, Inc.'s (NYSE:TR) investors are due to receive a payment of $0.09 per share on 8th of January. The dividend yield is 1.0% based on this payment, which is a little bit low compared to the other companies in the industry.
Even a low dividend yield can be attractive if it is sustained for years on end. However, prior to this announcement, Tootsie Roll Industries' dividend was comfortably covered by both cash flow and earnings. This means that most of what the business earns is being used to help it grow.
If the trend of the last few years continues, EPS will grow by 11.2% over the next 12 months. Assuming the dividend continues along recent trends, we think the payout ratio could be 26% by next year, which is in a pretty sustainable range.
Check out our latest analysis for Tootsie Roll Industries
The company has a sustained record of paying dividends with very little fluctuation. The dividend has gone from an annual total of $0.231 in 2015 to the most recent total annual payment of $0.36. This means that it has been growing its distributions at 4.5% per annum over that time. Although we can't deny that the dividend has been remarkably stable in the past, the growth has been pretty muted.
The company's investors will be pleased to have been receiving dividend income for some time. It's encouraging to see that Tootsie Roll Industries has been growing its earnings per share at 11% a year over the past five years. A low payout ratio and decent growth suggests that the company is reinvesting well, and it also has plenty of room to increase the dividend over time.
In summary, it is good to see that the dividend is staying consistent, and we don't think there is any reason to suspect this might change over the medium term. Earnings are easily covering distributions, and the company is generating plenty of cash. All of these factors considered, we think this has solid potential as a dividend stock.
It's important to note that companies having a consistent dividend policy will generate greater investor confidence than those having an erratic one. At the same time, there are other factors our readers should be conscious of before pouring capital into a stock. Now, if you want to look closer, it would be worth checking out our free research on Tootsie Roll Industries management tenure, salary, and performance. If you are a dividend investor, you might also want to look at our curated list of high yield dividend stocks.
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