Synovus Financial Corp. (NYSE:SNV) stock is about to trade ex-dividend in three days. The ex-dividend date is usually set to be one business day before the record date which is the cut-off date on which you must be present on the company's books as a shareholder in order to receive the dividend. The ex-dividend date is important as the process of settlement involves two full business days. So if you miss that date, you would not show up on the company's books on the record date. Meaning, you will need to purchase Synovus Financial's shares before the 20th of March to receive the dividend, which will be paid on the 1st of April.

The company's upcoming dividend is US$0.38 a share, following on from the last 12 months, when the company distributed a total of US$1.52 per share to shareholders. Calculating the last year's worth of payments shows that Synovus Financial has a trailing yield of 4.0% on the current share price of US$37.86. Dividends are a major contributor to investment returns for long term holders, but only if the dividend continues to be paid. As a result, readers should always check whether Synovus Financial has been able to grow its dividends, or if the dividend might be cut.

See our latest analysis for Synovus Financial

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. That's why it's good to see Synovus Financial paying out a modest 44% of its earnings.

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

Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?

Companies that aren't growing their earnings can still be valuable, but it is even more important to assess the sustainability of the dividend if it looks like the company will struggle to grow. Investors love dividends, so if earnings fall and the dividend is reduced, expect a stock to be sold off heavily at the same time. That explains why we're not overly excited about Synovus Financial's flat earnings over the past five years. Better than seeing them fall off a cliff, for sure, but the best dividend stocks grow their earnings meaningfully over the long run.

Many investors will assess a company's dividend performance by evaluating how much the dividend payments have changed over time. Synovus Financial has delivered an average of 18% per year annual increase in its dividend, based on the past 10 years of dividend payments.