Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida (NASDAQ:SBCF) Is Paying Out A Dividend Of $0.18

Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida (NASDAQ:SBCF) will pay a dividend of $0.18 on the 30th of June. This payment means that the dividend yield will be 3.4%, which is around the industry average.

See our latest analysis for Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida

Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida's Payment Expected To Have Solid Earnings Coverage

While it is always good to see a solid dividend yield, we should also consider whether the payment is feasible.

Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida is just starting to establish itself as being able to pay dividends to shareholders, given its short 2-year history of distributing earnings. Taking data from Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida's last earnings report, the payout ratio is at a decent 48%, meaning that the company is able to pay out its dividend with some room to spare.

Looking forward, earnings per share is forecast to rise by 28.1% over the next year. If the dividend continues on this path, the future payout ratio could be 46% by next year, which we think can be pretty sustainable going forward.

Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida Doesn't Have A Long Payment History

The company has maintained a consistent dividend for a few years now, but we would like to see a longer track record before relying on it. The dividend has gone from an annual total of $0.52 in 2021 to the most recent total annual payment of $0.72. This implies that the company grew its distributions at a yearly rate of about 18% over that duration. The dividend has been growing rapidly, however with such a short payment history we can't know for sure if payment can continue to grow over the long term, so caution may be warranted.

Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida May Find It Hard To Grow The Dividend

The company's investors will be pleased to have been receiving dividend income for some time. However, things aren't all that rosy. Although it's important to note that Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida's earnings per share has basically not grown from where it was five years ago, which could erode the purchasing power of the dividend over time.

We should note that Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida has issued stock equal to 38% of shares outstanding. Regularly doing this can be detrimental - it's hard to grow dividends per share when new shares are regularly being created.

Our Thoughts On Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida's Dividend

Overall, we don't think this company makes a great dividend stock, even though the dividend wasn't cut this year. While Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida is earning enough to cover the dividend, we are generally unimpressed with its future prospects. We don't think Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida is a great stock to add to your portfolio if income is your focus.

Investors generally tend to favour companies with a consistent, stable dividend policy as opposed to those operating an irregular one. At the same time, there are other factors our readers should be conscious of before pouring capital into a stock. For example, we've picked out 4 warning signs for Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida that investors should know about before committing capital to this stock. Looking for more high-yielding dividend ideas? Try our collection of strong dividend payers.

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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.

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