Value Line, Inc. (NASDAQ:VALU) stock is about to trade ex-dividend in 2 days. The ex-dividend date is one business day before the record date, which is the cut-off date for shareholders to be present on the company's books to be eligible for a dividend payment. The ex-dividend date is important because any transaction on a stock needs to have been settled before the record date in order to be eligible for a dividend. Meaning, you will need to purchase Value Line's shares before the 28th of July to receive the dividend, which will be paid on the 10th of August.

The company's next dividend payment will be US$0.28 per share. Last year, in total, the company distributed US$1.00 to shareholders. Based on the last year's worth of payments, Value Line has a trailing yield of 2.0% on the current stock price of $51.05. If you buy this business for its dividend, you should have an idea of whether Value Line's dividend is reliable and sustainable. So we need to check whether the dividend payments are covered, and if earnings are growing.

Check out our latest analysis for Value Line

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. Value Line paid out 53% of its earnings to investors last year, a normal payout level for most businesses.

Generally speaking, the lower a company's payout ratios, the more resilient its dividend usually is.

Click here to see how much of its profit Value Line paid out over the last 12 months.

Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?

Stocks in companies that generate sustainable earnings growth often make the best dividend prospects, as it is easier to lift the dividend when earnings are rising. 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, Value Line's earnings per share have been growing at 12% a year for the past five years.

The main way most investors will assess a company's dividend prospects is by checking the historical rate of dividend growth. Value Line has delivered an average of 5.2% per year annual increase in its dividend, based on the past 10 years of dividend payments. It's good to see both earnings and the dividend have improved - although the former has been rising much quicker than the latter, possibly due to the company reinvesting more of its profits in growth.

Final Takeaway

Is Value Line worth buying for its dividend? Earnings per share are growing nicely, and Value Line is paying out a percentage of its earnings that is around the average for dividend-paying stocks. Value Line ticks a lot of boxes for us from a dividend perspective, and we think these characteristics should mark the company as deserving of further attention.