Regular readers will know that we love our dividends at Simply Wall St, which is why it's exciting to see Landmark Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:LARK) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next 4 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. Meaning, you will need to purchase Landmark Bancorp's shares before the 22nd of August to receive the dividend, which will be paid on the 6th of September.

The company's next dividend payment will be US$0.21 per share. Last year, in total, the company distributed US$0.84 to shareholders. Looking at the last 12 months of distributions, Landmark Bancorp has a trailing yield of approximately 4.2% on its current stock price of $20.06. Dividends are an important source of income to many shareholders, but the health of the business is crucial to maintaining those dividends. As a result, readers should always check whether Landmark Bancorp has been able to grow its dividends, or if the dividend might be cut.

View our latest analysis for Landmark Bancorp

If a company pays out more in dividends than it earned, then the dividend might become unsustainable - hardly an ideal situation. Landmark Bancorp paid out a comfortable 41% of its profit last year.

When a company paid out less in dividends than it earned in profit, this generally suggests its dividend is affordable. The lower the % of its profit that it pays out, the greater the margin of safety for the dividend if the business enters a downturn.

Click here to see how much of its profit Landmark Bancorp 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 decline and the company is forced to cut its dividend, investors could watch the value of their investment go up in smoke. Fortunately for readers, Landmark Bancorp's earnings per share have been growing at 19% a year for the past five years.

Many investors will assess a company's dividend performance by evaluating how much the dividend payments have changed over time. Since the start of our data, 10 years ago, Landmark Bancorp has lifted its dividend by approximately 6.6% a year on average. It's encouraging to see the company lifting dividends while earnings are growing, suggesting at least some corporate interest in rewarding shareholders.