Wellnet (TSE:2428) Has Announced That It Will Be Increasing Its Dividend To ¥28.00

Wellnet Corporation's (TSE:2428) dividend will be increasing from last year's payment of the same period to ¥28.00 on 26th of September. This takes the annual payment to 3.7% of the current stock price, which is about average for the industry.

AI is about to change healthcare. These 20 stocks are working on everything from early diagnostics to drug discovery. The best part - they are all under $10bn in marketcap - there is still time to get in early.

Wellnet's Payment Could Potentially Have Solid Earnings Coverage

We like to see a healthy dividend yield, but that is only helpful to us if the payment can continue. Prior to this announcement, Wellnet's dividend was comfortably covered by both cash flow and earnings. This indicates that quite a large proportion of earnings is being invested back into the business.

Over the next year, EPS could expand by 15.4% if recent trends continue. 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.

Check out our latest analysis for Wellnet

Wellnet's Dividend Has Lacked Consistency

Looking back, Wellnet's dividend hasn't been particularly consistent. This suggests that the dividend might not be the most reliable. The annual payment during the last 6 years was ¥50.00 in 2019, and the most recent fiscal year payment was ¥26.46. Dividend payments have fallen sharply, down 47% over that time. Declining dividends isn't generally what we look for as they can indicate that the company is running into some challenges.

The Dividend Looks Likely To Grow

Dividends have been going in the wrong direction, so we definitely want to see a different trend in the earnings per share. We are encouraged to see that Wellnet has grown earnings per share at 15% per year over the past five years. The company is paying a reasonable amount of earnings to shareholders, and is growing earnings at a decent rate so we think it could be a decent dividend stock.

Wellnet Looks Like A Great Dividend Stock

Overall, we think this could be an attractive income stock, and it is only getting better by paying a higher dividend this year. Earnings are easily covering distributions, and the company is generating plenty of cash. All in all, this checks a lot of the boxes we look for when choosing an income stock.

It's important to note that companies having a consistent dividend policy will generate greater investor confidence than those having an erratic one. Still, investors need to consider a host of other factors, apart from dividend payments, when analysing a company. Taking the debate a bit further, we've identified 2 warning signs for Wellnet that investors need to be conscious of moving forward. If you are a dividend investor, you might also want to look at our curated list of high yield dividend stocks.