Republic Services (NYSE:RSG) Has Announced That It Will Be Increasing Its Dividend To $0.495

The board of Republic Services, Inc. (NYSE:RSG) has announced that it will be paying its dividend of $0.495 on the 14th of October, an increased payment from last year's comparable dividend. The payment will take the dividend yield to 1.4%, which is in line with the average for the industry.

Check out our latest analysis for Republic Services

Republic Services' Earnings Easily Cover The Distributions

We like a dividend to be consistent over the long term, so checking whether it is sustainable is important. Based on the last payment, Republic Services was quite comfortably earning enough to cover the dividend. This means that a large portion of its earnings are being retained to grow the business.

Over the next year, EPS is forecast to expand by 32.6%. If the dividend continues on this path, the payout ratio could be 35% by next year, which we think can be pretty sustainable going forward.

Republic Services Has A Solid Track Record

Even over a long history of paying dividends, the company's distributions have been remarkably stable. Since 2012, the dividend has gone from $0.88 total annually to $1.98. This works out to be a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 8.4% a year over that time. The dividend has been growing very nicely for a number of years, and has given its shareholders some nice income in their portfolios.

The Dividend Looks Likely To Grow

Investors could be attracted to the stock based on the quality of its payment history. We are encouraged to see that Republic Services has grown earnings per share at 18% per year over the past five years. Shareholders are getting plenty of the earnings returned to them, which combined with strong growth makes this quite appealing.

Republic Services Looks Like A Great Dividend Stock

Overall, a dividend increase is always good, and we think that Republic Services is a strong income stock thanks to its track record and growing earnings. Distributions are quite easily covered by earnings, which are also being converted to cash flows. Taking this all into consideration, this looks like it could be a good dividend opportunity.

Investors generally tend to favour companies with a consistent, stable dividend policy as opposed to those operating an irregular one. Still, investors need to consider a host of other factors, apart from dividend payments, when analysing a company. For example, we've picked out 2 warning signs for Republic Services that investors should know about before committing capital to this stock. If you are a dividend investor, you might also want to look at our curated list of high yield dividend stocks.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.

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.

Join A Paid User Research Session
You’ll receive a US$30 Amazon Gift card for 1 hour of your time while helping us build better investing tools for the individual investors like yourself. Sign up here