ADT Inc. (NYSE:ADT) will pay a dividend of $0.055 on the 8th of July. This means the annual payment is 2.8% of the current stock price, which is above the average for the industry.

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ADT's Projected Earnings Seem Likely To Cover Future Distributions

We like to see robust dividend yields, but that doesn't matter if the payment isn't sustainable. However, prior to this announcement, ADT's dividend was comfortably covered by both cash flow and earnings. This means that most of what the business earns is being used to help it grow.

Looking forward, earnings per share is forecast to rise by 31.2% over the next year. If the dividend continues on this path, the payout ratio could be 25% by next year, which we think can be pretty sustainable going forward.

View our latest analysis for ADT

ADT Doesn't Have A Long Payment History

The dividend's track record has been pretty solid, but with only 7 years of history we want to see a few more years of history before making any solid conclusions. The dividend has gone from an annual total of $0.14 in 2018 to the most recent total annual payment of $0.22. This implies that the company grew its distributions at a yearly rate of about 6.7% over that duration. ADT has been growing its dividend at a decent rate, and the payments have been stable. However, the payment history is very short, so there is no evidence yet that the dividend can be sustained over a full economic cycle.

The Dividend Looks Likely To Grow

Investors could be attracted to the stock based on the quality of its payment history. It's encouraging to see that ADT has been growing its earnings per share at 72% a year over the past five years. Earnings per share is growing at a solid clip, and the payout ratio is low which we think is an ideal combination in a dividend stock as the company can quite easily raise the dividend in the future.

ADT Looks Like A Great Dividend Stock

Overall, we think that this is a great income investment, and we think that maintaining the dividend this year may have been a conservative choice. Distributions are quite easily covered by earnings, which are also being converted to cash flows. All of these factors considered, we think this has solid potential as a dividend stock.

Companies possessing a stable dividend policy will likely enjoy greater investor interest than those suffering from a more inconsistent approach. However, there are other things to consider for investors when analysing stock performance. Taking the debate a bit further, we've identified 1 warning sign for ADT that investors need to be conscious of moving forward. Is ADT not quite the opportunity you were looking for? Why not check out our selection of top dividend stocks.

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