It looks like MidWestOne Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:MOFG) is about to go ex-dividend in the next three days. Typically, the ex-dividend date is one business day before the record date which is the date on which a company determines the shareholders eligible to receive a dividend. The ex-dividend date is an important date to be aware of as any purchase of the stock made on or after this date might mean a late settlement that doesn't show on the record date. Therefore, if you purchase MidWestOne Financial Group's shares on or after the 30th of November, you won't be eligible to receive the dividend, when it is paid on the 15th of December.

The company's next dividend payment will be US$0.24 per share, on the back of last year when the company paid a total of US$0.97 to shareholders. Based on the last year's worth of payments, MidWestOne Financial Group has a trailing yield of 4.5% on the current stock price of $21.7. Dividends are an important source of income to many shareholders, but the health of the business is crucial to maintaining those dividends. So we need to investigate whether MidWestOne Financial Group can afford its dividend, and if the dividend could grow.

See our latest analysis for MidWestOne Financial Group

Dividends are typically paid from company earnings. If a company pays more in dividends than it earned in profit, then the dividend could be unsustainable. MidWestOne Financial Group paid out a comfortable 44% of its profit last year.

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 the company's payout ratio, plus analyst estimates of its future dividends.

Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?

Businesses with strong growth prospects usually make the best dividend payers, because it's easier to grow dividends when earnings per share are improving. If earnings fall far enough, the company could be forced to cut its dividend. With that in mind, we're encouraged by the steady growth at MidWestOne Financial Group, with earnings per share up 7.0% on average over the last five years.

The main way most investors will assess a company's dividend prospects is by checking the historical rate of dividend growth. Since the start of our data, 10 years ago, MidWestOne Financial Group has lifted its dividend by approximately 6.9% a year on average. We're glad to see dividends rising alongside earnings over a number of years, which may be a sign the company intends to share the growth with shareholders.