Do These 3 Checks Before Buying Enel SpA (BIT:ENEL) For Its Upcoming Dividend

Enel SpA (BIT:ENEL) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next 3 days. The ex-dividend date is commonly two business days before the record date, which is the cut-off date for shareholders to be present on the company's books to be eligible for a dividend payment. It is important to be aware of the ex-dividend date because any trade on the stock needs to have been settled on or before the record date. This means that investors who purchase Enel's shares on or after the 20th of July will not receive the dividend, which will be paid on the 22nd of July.

The company's next dividend payment will be €0.26 per share, and in the last 12 months, the company paid a total of €0.49 per share. Based on the last year's worth of payments, Enel stock has a trailing yield of around 4.8% on the current share price of €10.164. Dividends are an important source of income to many shareholders, but the health of the business is crucial to maintaining those dividends. So we need to investigate whether Enel can afford its dividend, and if the dividend could grow.

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If a company pays out more in dividends than it earned, then the dividend might become unsustainable - hardly an ideal situation. Enel distributed an unsustainably high 128% of its profit as dividends to shareholders last year. Without more sustainable payment behaviour, the dividend looks precarious. That said, even highly profitable companies sometimes might not generate enough cash to pay the dividend, which is why we should always check if the dividend is covered by cash flow. Enel paid out more free cash flow than it generated - 186%, to be precise - last year, which we think is concerningly high. We're curious about why the company paid out more cash than it generated last year, since this can be one of the early signs that a dividend may be unsustainable.

Cash is slightly more important than profit from a dividend perspective, but given Enel's payouts were not well covered by either earnings or cash flow, we would be concerned about the sustainability of this dividend.

Check out our latest analysis for Enel

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

Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?

Companies with consistently growing earnings per share generally make the best dividend stocks, as they usually find it easier to grow dividends per share. If earnings fall far enough, the company could be forced to cut its dividend. This is why it's a relief to see Enel earnings per share are up 8.4% per annum over the last five years. Earnings per share have been growing comfortably, although unfortunately the company is paying out more of its profits than we're comfortable with over the long term.

Many investors will assess a company's dividend performance by evaluating how much the dividend payments have changed over time. Enel has delivered 12% dividend growth per year on average over the past 10 years. 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.

Final Takeaway

Is Enel an attractive dividend stock, or better left on the shelf? The dividends are not well covered by either income or free cash flow, although at least earnings per share are slowly increasing. Bottom line: Enel has some unfortunate characteristics that we think could lead to sub-optimal outcomes for dividend investors.

Having said that, if you're looking at this stock without much concern for the dividend, you should still be familiar of the risks involved with Enel. Be aware that Enel is showing 4 warning signs in our investment analysis, and 1 of those can't be ignored...

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.