BOK Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:BOKF) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next 4 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 of consequence because whenever a stock is bought or sold, the trade takes at least two business day to settle. Thus, you can purchase BOK Financial's shares before the 15th of November in order to receive the dividend, which the company will pay on the 27th of November.

The company's next dividend payment will be US$0.57 per share, on the back of last year when the company paid a total of US$2.28 to shareholders. Based on the last year's worth of payments, BOK Financial stock has a trailing yield of around 2.0% on the current share price of US$115.48. If you buy this business for its dividend, you should have an idea of whether BOK Financial's dividend is reliable and sustainable. So we need to investigate whether BOK Financial can afford its dividend, and if the dividend could grow.

Check out our latest analysis for BOK Financial

If a company pays out more in dividends than it earned, then the dividend might become unsustainable - hardly an ideal situation. That's why it's good to see BOK Financial paying out a modest 31% of its earnings.

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

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. If earnings decline and the company is forced to cut its dividend, investors could watch the value of their investment go up in smoke. It's not encouraging to see that BOK Financial's earnings are effectively flat 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.

The main way most investors will assess a company's dividend prospects is by checking the historical rate of dividend growth. BOK Financial has delivered 3.6% dividend growth per year on average over the past 10 years.

To Sum It Up

Is BOK Financial an attractive dividend stock, or better left on the shelf? Earnings per share have been flat in recent years, although BOK Financial reinvests more than half its earnings in the business, which could suggest there are some growth projects that have not yet reached fruition. Overall, BOK Financial looks like a promising dividend stock in this analysis, and we think it would be worth investigating further.

With that in mind, a critical part of thorough stock research is being aware of any risks that stock currently faces. To help with this, we've discovered 1 warning sign for BOK Financial that you should be aware of before investing in their shares.

A common investing mistake is buying the first interesting stock you see. Here you can find a full list of high-yield dividend stocks.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.