Assessing the Sustainability of CNA Financial Corp's Upcoming Dividend
CNA Financial Corp (NYSE:CNA) recently announced a dividend of $2 per share, payable on 2024-03-07, with the ex-dividend date set for 2024-02-16. As investors look forward to this upcoming payment, the spotlight also shines on the company's dividend history, yield, and growth rates. Using the data from GuruFocus, let's look into CNA Financial Corp's dividend performance and assess its sustainability.
What Does CNA Financial Corp Do?
-
This Powerful Chart Made Peter Lynch 29% A Year For 13 Years
-
How to calculate the intrinsic value of a stock?
CNA Financial Corporation (NYSE:CNA) is an insurance holding company that provides commercial property and casualty insurance. The company operates under five segments: Specialty, Commercial and International being its core business and two segments for its non-core businesses, which are Life and Group and Corporate and Other. CNA, through its segments, provides professional, financial, specialty property and casualty products to small businesses and medium scale organizations. It has its business spread across Continental Europe, the United Kingdom, and Canada. The majority of the revenues are generated from the Specialty and Commercial segment of the business.
A Glimpse at CNA Financial Corp's Dividend History
CNA Financial Corp has maintained a consistent dividend payment record since 2011. Dividends are currently distributed on a quarterly basis. CNA Financial Corp has increased its dividend each year since 2011, earning the title of a dividend achiever, which is reserved for companies that have consistently increased their dividend each year for at least the past 13 years. Below is a chart showing annual Dividends Per Share for tracking historical trends.
Breaking Down CNA Financial Corp's Dividend Yield and Growth
As of today, CNA Financial Corp currently has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 3.63% and a 12-month forward dividend yield of 3.80%. This suggests an expectation of an increase in dividend payments over the next 12 months. Over the past three years, CNA Financial Corp's annual dividend growth rate was 4.30%, which increased to 5.00% per year over a five-year horizon. Over the past decade, CNA Financial Corp's annual dividends per share growth rate stands at 7.40%. Based on CNA Financial Corp's dividend yield and five-year growth rate, the 5-year yield on cost of CNA Financial Corp stock as of today is approximately 4.63%.
The Sustainability Question: Payout Ratio and Profitability
To assess the sustainability of the dividend, one needs to evaluate the company's payout ratio. The dividend payout ratio provides insights into the portion of earnings the company distributes as dividends. A lower ratio suggests that the company retains a significant part of its earnings, thereby ensuring the availability of funds for future growth and unexpected downturns. As of 2023-12-31, CNA Financial Corp's dividend payout ratio is 0.38. CNA Financial Corp's profitability rank, offers an understanding of the company's earnings prowess relative to its peers. GuruFocus ranks CNA Financial Corp's profitability 6 out of 10 as of 2023-12-31, suggesting fair profitability. The company has reported positive net income for each of year over the past decade, further solidifying its high profitability.