WD-40 Company's (NASDAQ:WDFC) dividend will be increasing from last year's payment of the same period to $0.94 on 31st of January. Although the dividend is now higher, the yield is only 1.6%, which is below the industry average.

Check out our latest analysis for WD-40

WD-40's Projected Earnings Seem Likely To Cover Future Distributions

While yield is important, another factor to consider about a company's dividend is whether the current payout levels are feasible. Prior to this announcement, WD-40's dividend was comfortably covered by both cash flow and earnings. This means that a large portion of its earnings are being retained to grow the business.

Looking forward, earnings per share is forecast to rise by 9.2% over the next year. Assuming the dividend continues along recent trends, we think the payout ratio could be 70% by next year, which is in a pretty sustainable range.

WD-40 Has A Solid Track Record

Even over a long history of paying dividends, the company's distributions have been remarkably stable. The annual payment during the last 10 years was $1.36 in 2015, and the most recent fiscal year payment was $3.76. This works out to be a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 11% a year over that time. We can see that payments have shown some very nice upward momentum without faltering, which provides some reassurance that future payments will also be reliable.

The Dividend's Growth Prospects Are Limited

The company's investors will be pleased to have been receiving dividend income for some time. However, WD-40 has only grown its earnings per share at 4.9% per annum over the past five years. The company has been growing at a pretty soft 4.9% per annum, and is paying out quite a lot of its earnings to shareholders. This isn't bad in itself, but unless earnings growth pick up we wouldn't expect dividends to grow either.

We Really Like WD-40's Dividend

Overall, we think this could be an attractive income stock, and it is only getting better by paying a higher dividend this year. Earnings are easily covering distributions, and the company is generating plenty of cash. Taking this all into consideration, this looks like it could be a good dividend opportunity.

Companies possessing a stable dividend policy will likely enjoy greater investor interest than those suffering from a more inconsistent approach. Still, investors need to consider a host of other factors, apart from dividend payments, when analysing a company. Taking the debate a bit further, we've identified 1 warning sign for WD-40 that investors need to be conscious of moving forward. If you are a dividend investor, you might also want to look at our curated list of high yield dividend stocks.

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