First Community Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCBC) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next four days. The ex-dividend date occurs one day before the record date which is the day on which shareholders need to be on the company's books in order to receive a dividend. The ex-dividend date is of consequence because whenever a stock is bought or sold, the trade takes at least two business day to settle. Therefore, if you purchase First Community Bankshares' shares on or after the 10th of August, you won't be eligible to receive the dividend, when it is paid on the 25th of August.

The company's upcoming dividend is US$0.29 a share, following on from the last 12 months, when the company distributed a total of US$1.16 per share to shareholders. Looking at the last 12 months of distributions, First Community Bankshares has a trailing yield of approximately 3.4% on its current stock price of $33.86. We love seeing companies pay a dividend, but it's also important to be sure that laying the golden eggs isn't going to kill our golden goose! That's why we should always check whether the dividend payments appear sustainable, and if the company is growing.

Check out our latest analysis for First Community Bankshares

Dividends are usually paid out of company profits, so if a company pays out more than it earned then its dividend is usually at greater risk of being cut. That's why it's good to see First Community Bankshares paying out a modest 41% of its earnings.

Companies that pay out less in dividends than they earn in profits generally have more sustainable dividends. The lower the payout ratio, the more wiggle room the business has before it could be forced to cut the dividend.

Click here to see how much of its profit First Community Bankshares paid out over the last 12 months.

Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?

Companies with consistently growing earnings per share generally make the best dividend stocks, as they usually find it easier to grow dividends per share. If earnings fall far enough, the company could be forced to cut its dividend. For this reason, we're glad to see First Community Bankshares's earnings per share have risen 15% per annum over the last five years.

Many investors will assess a company's dividend performance by evaluating how much the dividend payments have changed over time. First Community Bankshares has delivered an average of 10% per year annual increase in its dividend, based on the past 10 years of dividend payments. Both per-share earnings and dividends have both been growing rapidly in recent times, which is great to see.