It looks like Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SASR) is about to go ex-dividend in the next four days. The ex-dividend date is one business day before a company's record date, which is the date on which the company determines which shareholders are entitled to receive a dividend. It is important to be aware of the ex-dividend date because any trade on the stock needs to have been settled on or before the record date. Thus, you can purchase Sandy Spring Bancorp's shares before the 13th of February in order to receive the dividend, which the company will pay on the 21st of February.

The company's next dividend payment will be US$0.34 per share. Last year, in total, the company distributed US$1.36 to shareholders. Based on the last year's worth of payments, Sandy Spring Bancorp stock has a trailing yield of around 6.0% on the current share price of US$22.68. 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 Sandy Spring Bancorp can afford its dividend, and if the dividend could grow.

View our latest analysis for Sandy Spring Bancorp

If a company pays out more in dividends than it earned, then the dividend might become unsustainable - hardly an ideal situation. Fortunately Sandy Spring Bancorp's payout ratio is modest, at just 50% of profit.

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?

Stocks with flat earnings can still be attractive dividend payers, but it is important to be more conservative with your approach and demand a greater margin for safety when it comes to dividend sustainability. If earnings decline and the company is forced to cut its dividend, investors could watch the value of their investment go up in smoke. That explains why we're not overly excited about Sandy Spring Bancorp's flat earnings over the past five years. It's better than seeing them drop, certainly, but over the long term, all of the best dividend stocks are able to meaningfully grow their earnings per share.

The main way most investors will assess a company's dividend prospects is by checking the historical rate of dividend growth. In the last 10 years, Sandy Spring Bancorp has lifted its dividend by approximately 7.8% a year on average.