Endeavour Group Limited's (ASX:EDV) dividend is being reduced by 2.6% to A$0.075 per share on 27th of September, in comparison to last year's comparable payment of A$0.077. However, the dividend yield of 3.9% still remains in a typical range for the industry.

View our latest analysis for Endeavour Group

Endeavour Group's Earnings Easily Cover The Distributions

We like to see a healthy dividend yield, but that is only helpful to us if the payment can continue. Prior to this announcement, Endeavour Group's dividend was making up a very large proportion of earnings and perhaps more concerning was that it was 110% of cash flows. Paying out such a high proportion of cash flows certainly exposes the company to cutting the dividend if cash flows were to reduce.

Over the next year, EPS is forecast to expand by 9.9%. Assuming the dividend continues along recent trends, we think the payout ratio could be 65% by next year, which is in a pretty sustainable range. historic-dividend

Endeavour Group's Dividend Has Lacked Consistency

The track record isn't the longest, but we are already seeing a bit of instability in the payments. Since 2021, the annual payment back then was A$0.07, compared to the most recent full-year payment of A$0.218. This means that it has been growing its distributions at 76% per annum over that time. It is great to see strong growth in the dividend payments, but cuts are concerning as it may indicate the payout policy is too ambitious.

The Dividend Looks Likely To Grow

Growing earnings per share could be a mitigating factor when considering the past fluctuations in the dividend. Endeavour Group has seen EPS rising for the last three years, at 62% per annum. However, Endeavour Group isn't reinvesting a lot back into the business, so we wonder how quickly it will be able to grow in the future.

In Summary

In summary, dividends being cut isn't ideal, however it can bring the payment into a more sustainable range. With cash flows lacking, it is difficult to see how the company can sustain a dividend payment. This company is not in the top tier of income providing stocks.

Investors generally tend to favour companies with a consistent, stable dividend policy as opposed to those operating an irregular one. However, there are other things to consider for investors when analysing stock performance. For instance, we've picked out 2 warning signs for Endeavour Group that investors should take into consideration. Looking for more high-yielding dividend ideas? Try our collection of strong dividend payers.

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