The board of Enterprise Financial Services Corp (NASDAQ:EFSC) has announced that it will be paying its dividend of $0.30 on the 30th of June, an increased payment from last year's comparable dividend. Despite this raise, the dividend yield of 2.3% is only a modest boost to shareholder returns.

We've discovered 1 warning sign about Enterprise Financial Services. View them for free.

Enterprise Financial Services' Dividend Forecasted To Be Well Covered By Earnings

While yield is important, another factor to consider about a company's dividend is whether the current payout levels are feasible.

Having distributed dividends for at least 10 years, Enterprise Financial Services has a long history of paying out a part of its earnings to shareholders. While past data isn't a guarantee for the future, Enterprise Financial Services' latest earnings report puts its payout ratio at 21%, showing that the company can pay out its dividends comfortably.

Looking forward, earnings per share is forecast to rise by 3.0% over the next year. If the dividend continues along recent trends, we estimate the future payout ratio will be 24%, which is in the range that makes us comfortable with the sustainability of the dividend.

Check out our latest analysis for Enterprise Financial Services

Enterprise Financial Services Has A Solid Track Record

The company has been paying a dividend for a long time, and it has been quite stable which gives us confidence in the future dividend potential. Since 2015, the annual payment back then was $0.21, compared to the most recent full-year payment of $1.20. This implies that the company grew its distributions at a yearly rate of about 19% over that duration. So, dividends have been growing pretty quickly, and even more impressively, they haven't experienced any notable falls during this period.

The Dividend Has Growth Potential

The company's investors will be pleased to have been receiving dividend income for some time. We are encouraged to see that Enterprise Financial Services has grown earnings per share at 9.1% per year over the past five years. With a decent amount of growth and a low payout ratio, we think this bodes well for Enterprise Financial Services' prospects of growing its dividend payments in the future.

We Really Like Enterprise Financial Services' Dividend

Overall, we think this could be an attractive income stock, and it is only getting better by paying a higher dividend this year. The company is easily earning enough to cover its dividend payments and it is great to see that these earnings are being translated into cash flow. Taking this all into consideration, this looks like it could be a good dividend opportunity.

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. For instance, we've picked out 1 warning sign for Enterprise Financial Services that investors should take into consideration. Is Enterprise Financial Services not quite the opportunity you were looking for? Why not check out 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.